Work cut out for IMF insider at Central Bank amid shilling free fall

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) nominee for Governor, Patrick Ngugi, is the latest recruit from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to be put in charge of another critical organ of Kenya’s economy. Mr Ngugi is a long serving IMF insider who beat 22 candidates to clinch the CBK top job.

A PhD holder in Economics from Yale University, Ngugi is only waiting for Parliament’s approval before marching into CBK’s most decorated office on Nairobi’s Haile Selassie Avenue. Analysts say the appointment of Ngugi to head Kenya’s most important financial institution has cemented the country’s dalliance with the Washington based institution.