Kenyan PM hails Lagarde IMF choice

BY MICHAEL KARANJA

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null 1/1 NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 29 - Prime Minister Raila Odinga has welcomed the appointment of Christine Lagarde to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The French Finance Minister takes over from embattled Dominque Strauss-Kahn who stepped down in May and becomes the first woman to head the Bretton Woods institution. While she is widely respected for her leadership in Europe’s financial crisis, the Premier challenged her to intervene over the high global prices of food and oil. “Africa holds high expectations on her as the turbulence in the global economy – extremely high international prices of food and oil, and the debt crisis in Europe is lowering Africa’s growth prospects and deepening its poverty,” Prime Minister Odinga said. He also called on Ms Lagarde to sustain financial ties with African countries, to boost economic growth on the continent. “I call on the IMF, under the new leadership of Christine Lagarde, to be bold and innovative in assisting Africa sustain high economic growth, maintain macroeconomic stability and achieve the Millennium Development Goals, with greater and timely flows of highly concessional resources,” he said. Ms Largarde who assumes office from July 5, will in office for five years. The Prime Minister further acknowledged the financial assistance Kenya is currently receiving from the IMF saying the government of Kenya looks forward to building stronger partnership with the IMF.

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