Kenya will continue discussions with the International Monetary Fund about a new programme next week in Washington, the country’s central bank governor said on Wednesday.

The East African nation’s $3.6 billion programme with the IMF expired earlier this year, and some officials have expressed an interest in getting a new one that will include a lending component.

“The discussions will continue next week when we go to Washington, and of course we hope to reach agreement on our funded programme as soon as possible,” Governor Kamau Thugge told a press conference.

Some financial analysts have said that Kenya needs a new loan deal from the Washington-based Fund to anchor its external debt repayments.

Thugge was speaking a day after the Central Bank of Kenya cut its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points to 9.25 per cent, the eighth easing step in a row.

• A Reuters report