The International Monetary Fund has listed 25 countries that will be given a debt relief due to the Covid-19 but Kenya has been left out of the list.
According to the IMF Board, the 25 countries which have been granted the debt relief fall under the category of the World’s poorest countries.
The debt relief falls under IMF’s revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) which seeks to cushion member countries that are considered more vulnerable to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This provides grants to our poorest and most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months and will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts,” IMF said.
IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said the CCRT can provide about 500 million Dollars (53 billion shillings ) in grant-based debt service relief which includes a pledge of 185 million dollars (19.6 billion shillings ) 100 million dollars (10.6 billion shillings ) provided by UK and Japan respectively.
The IMF MD said other countries like China and the Netherlands have promised to give their contributions to support during these difficult times.
The following countries will benefit from the debt relief; Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad and Comoros The Democratic Republic of Congo, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo, and Yemen.
Despite Kenya being ranked as the 17th poorest country in the world, it has been denied the debt relief maybe because of the huge debt it owes to international lenders.
However, IMF doubled Kenya’s foreign reserve currency to 75 billion shillings.
Currently, Kenya owes lenders 6.15 trillion shillings in public debt with the debt expected to increase if the shillings continue to slow against the greenback.
Focus Economic Kenya, says Kenya is likely to climb to position 15 as the poorest countries in the coming years despite it expected growth in GDP.