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Significance
Facing a worsening fiscal situation amid the COVID-19 pandemic but reluctant to participate in G20 debt restructuring, Kenya arguably had few other options than to apply for new IMF support. However, the news triggered a popular social media backlash that was sufficiently powerful to persuade the IMF to take the unusual step of releasing a statement justifying the programme.
Impacts
The government will struggle to implement all the programme’s planned fiscal reforms fully and on time.
Plans to raise the debt ceiling will draw public criticism of the government’s appetite for borrowing, but will pass nonetheless.
Members of parliament and civil servants in particular may resist any talk of cuts to their salaries and benefits.
Keywords:
Kenya,
AF,
economy,
international relations,
politics,
social,
aid,
debt,
finance,
fiscal,
foreign trade,
government,
public sector,
reform,
election,
health
© Oxford Analytica 2021. All rights reserved. This content contains general information about geopolitical, macroeconomic and social developments or (where stated) other matters. It does not contain advice or recommendations that may be relied on. Where links to external websites are provided, this does not indicate that Oxford Analytica or Emerald agree with, endorse or have checked for accuracy the contents of said sites.
2021
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