Kristalina, who also sums up as the firm’s Chairman of the Executive Board had hosted Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres on Thursday evening, April 22.
The duo’s 23-minute discussion centered around climate change and the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) which will take place in November in Glasgow, Scotland. They also celebrated Earth Day which is commemorated on April 22.
“Over 100 countries realise that climate is crucial and the risks can affect their finances. They understood that we can create green energy and that we as the IMF can help them create policies and a better understanding of climate risks,” Kristalina stated.
Christiana added that the meeting will help curb pollution and humans should be privileged to be on earth and write the future of the planet.
However, Kenyans seized the moment to urge and warn Kristalina against funding Kenya with loans rather than contributing to climate change and green energy discussion. Through the hashtag Stop Loaning Kenyans, they lamented that the debts would negatively affect the economy and the upcoming generations.
“Stop lending money to a corrupt Kenyan government. We are already neck-deep in debt and billions are lining the pockets of greedy politicians,” David Mutua pleaded.
“Are you sure the loans are used for the intended purposes? Service providers and contractors are never paid their dues on time,” Okulo Jogoo added.
Kristalina avoided being dragged into the Kenya debt debacle and explained that the 23-minute meeting did not end hastily but had exhausted its allocated time.
In early April, the same trend was witnessed on IMF social media pages, with Kenyans later escalating the matter by signing an online petition against a Ksh255 billion loan granted to Kenya.
To scale down the matter, the IMF ordered Kenya to be accountable for the loan by enforcing wealth declarations for all public servants in the quest to curb corruption and reducing government parastatal expenditures.
After securing the IMF loan, Kenya is set to borrow a new Ksh124 billion fourth Eurobond and Ksh82 billion World Bank loans to fund development projects and fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Kenya’s debt currently stands at Ksh6.69 billion and poised to rise to 9.37 trillion by mid-2023.
Source: KENYAGIST.COM
