KEPSA, led by the CEO, Ms Carole Kariuki, met with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Ms Haimanot Teferra, Mission Chief to the IMF's African Department on 8^th November 2023 at the KEPSA offices. The discussions in the meeting focused on the business environment, competitiveness, and challenges around forex availability.

In her remarks, Ms Kariuki noted that the economic outlook remains positive and resilient despite global economic shocks and climate change challenges, such as drought and heavy rains. She further pointed out that the policy environment in Kenya remains unpredictable, which has made investments flee from Kenya to regional neighbours such as Uganda and Tanzania. Ms Kariuki called for a regulatory environment focused on growing a production nation rather than a consumer nation. She concluded her remarks committing that KEPSA would continue to offer solutions to ensure that the Kenya Shilling becomes stronger against major currencies.

Ms Rose Mwaura, the Public Finance Sector Board Chair, noted the need to align government policies to spark the business environment, making businesses in Kenya competitive. She noted that the national tax policy needs to be fast-tracked to create predictability around the tax regime that businesses must plan. She concluded her remarks by calling upon the IMF team to push for fiscal prudency within the government to ensure that Kenya manages within her means.

The IMF team appreciated the challenges underpinning the importance of working on a production model of the economy to ensure that the nation moves from debt-financed growth to business-financed growth. They committed to continuously engaging the private sector to ensure that they propose economic policies that lead to growth for the government.