On Friday, July 14, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) replied to President William Ruto’s criticism of its handling of international projects.
Julie Kozack, Director of Strategic Communications at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), stressed the importance of considering the organization’s financial interventions offered to countries over the years when evaluating its operations during a live-streamed press briefing.
Kozack urged critics to broaden their perspectives to gain a thorough understanding of the IMF’s operations.
She emphasized that the Bretton Woods institution had come to the aid of several countries in difficult economic times through various interventions, including concessional loans.
Kozack cited the IMF’s assistance to countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as its assistance to nations dealing with the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“I believe that more broadly speaking, many countries and many regions of the world have navigated difficult transitions before, and the IMF has, on average, been part of the global response to these difficult transitions that countries have faced.”
“Since March 2020, we have approved over Ksh42 trillion (USD 300 billion) in financing for 96 countries,” she explained.
She did, however, mention that there were emerging trends in the global financial landscape and that the institution was readjusting to alignits programs with the changes.
Some of the reforms she mentioned were increasing the overall size of the IMF’s quarter resources, which she said would benefit low-income countries.
