IMF whip to hurt most vulnerable

This week it emerged that the government is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a new lending facility. This comes on the back of an IMF emergency financing facility approved in May to the tune of Sh7.4 billion that was to help the government cover costs related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Separately, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani telegraphed the coming economic pain as part of the agreement with the IMF. Public sector jobs will be cut to reduce recurrent expenditures. Important government services will also see retrenchment. And the wider economy will suffer from reduction in government spending on important public goods and services. The fact that we have gone to the IMF, bowl in hand, means we are in an economic ditch. Our collective tragedy is that the government continues to dig. Wasteful public spending and graft continue to be the norm in the Jubilee administration. Which means the coming cuts in public spending will be borne primarily by the least fortunate among us.