IMF approves $110 mn credit facility for Kenya

 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $110.5 million loan facility for Kenya as the East African nation moves to tighten its monetary policy to bring inflation further down.

The latest approval brings total disbursements under the arrangement to an amount equivalent to $529.6 million since the first disbursement in January, reported Xinhua.

IMF Deputy MD Naoyuki Shinohara said economic activity in Kenya is rebounding after slowing down in 2011-12, helped by improved macroeconomic stability, foreign investment in oil and natural gas exploitation, and favourable weather conditions.

"Inflation has declined substantially, net international reserves have increased, public debt is low, and pressures on the exchange rate have dissipated," Shinohara said in a statement issued in Nairobi Thursday.

The East African nation's economy has undergone turbulent times in the recent past, but the recent IMF assessment said policies used by the government have so far prevented adverse effects and there are signs that even inflation that averaged 19 percent in November last year is coming down.

The economy has also experienced strain from drought that led to higher food prices and import of food as well as high oil prices.