Kenya needs continued support to keep its economy on track after its debt-servicing costs surged due to a borrowing spree over the past decade.

"The Kenyan authorities and IMF staff have reached an understanding that the ninth review under the current Extended Fund Facility and Extended Credit Facility programs will not proceed," Haimanot Teferra, the IMF's Mission Chief, said in a statement issued at the end of a visit to Nairobi.

The IMF has received a formal request for a new programme from the Kenyan government, she added.

The current programme began in April 2021 and is due to expire next month. Its implementation, however, has been hampered by deadly anti-tax hike protests last year and a row over new borrowing from the United Arab Emirates.

Finance Minister John Mbadi told Reuters last month that the government would be seeking a financing programme.

Under the current lending programme, a total of $3.12 billion had been approved for disbursement by the end of last October, according to the IMF.

--Reuters--