NAIROBI (Reuters) – The Worldwide Financial Fund mentioned on Tuesday it has held productive discussions with the Kenyan authorities on its plans to handle the nation’s financial and financial challenges, after nationwide protests pressured it to desert deliberate tax hikes.

President William Ruto deserted this yr’s finance invoice in June, leaving the closely indebted authorities with an even bigger funds deficit for this monetary yr, mounting unpaid payments, and a delay in disbursement of IMF funding.

“We stay totally dedicated to assist the authorities on their efforts to determine a set of insurance policies that might assist the completion of the critiques underneath the continuing program as quickly as possible,” the IMF mentioned in an announcement.

Kenya agreed a four-year mortgage with the IMF in 2021, and signed up for extra lending to assist local weather change measures in Might 2023, taking its whole IMF mortgage entry to $3.6 billion.

Kenya reached a employees stage settlement with the IMF in June on the seventh overview of its programme, however the protest and ensuing withdrawal of the finance invoice put a sign-off by the fund’s govt board, and subsequent payout, on maintain.