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IMF resumes help to Kenya to tune of drls 198 million |
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July 29, 2000
WASHINGTON (AP) - Saying that Kenya has made progress in battling corruption, the International Monetary Fund has agreed to resume helping the East African nation by approving a dlrs 198 million loan. The move comes as Kenya is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1963 with severe drought and nationwide power and water shortages. Last month President Daniel arap Moi made a rare personal appeal for international help saying 3 million of Kenya's 22 million were "absolutely destitute." IMF spokeswoman Lucie Mboto-Fouda said the loan will be used to support the government's economic programs through the year 2003. "The first installment of dlrs 18 million will be available immediately," Mboto-Fouda said. The IMF decision will clear the way for other international lenders such as the World Bank to resume their programs with Kenya and may spur renewed private investment. Both organizations suspended loans to Kenya in August 1997 demanding it end corruption and speed up privatization of state corporations. Stanley Fischer, the deputy head of the IMF said Wednesday in London that Kenya had made sufficient progress in battling corruption to justify a policy of constructive engagement. "There really has been a clear improvement," he told reporters. In order to meet demands from the IMF and the World Bank Moi has initiated a series of reforms during the last 12 months that included paring down the bloated civil service. Last July Moi appointed renowned paleontologist Richard Leakey, a third-generation white Kenyan, to push through reforms as head of the civil service. Kenya's crisis is so severe that it will have to import almost half of its corn over the next 18 months because of a worsening drought in the Horn of Africa, a U.N. food agency recently announced. The drought is particularly serious for farming households, whose economies have collapsed and livestock died. Kenya will have to import at least 1.4 million tons of corn, its staple food, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said in its announcement. The FAO also said there were conflicts over scarce water and children in some areas were dying of starvation. About 80 percent of Kenya's food is grown during the rainy season, which normally lasts from March to May. But the FAO said it hasn't rained for months in most of the country,including the Rift Valley Province, Kenya's breadbasket, and the usually self-sufficient Central Province.
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