President Uhuru Kenyatta has appointed IMF Patrick Ngugi Njoroge as governor of the central bank, ending a more than three-month search after the outgoing CBK governor Njuguna Ndung’u term expired.
Njuguna Ndung’u’s term epired on March 3 after completing the maximum of two, four-year terms in office. The central bank Deputy Governor Haron Sirima has been serving in an acting capacity as head of the bank.
Patrick Ngugi Njoroge will have to wait for his fete, whereby he will undergo vetting by the parliament committee before he assumes office officially.
This position holds that the CBK should adopt an expansionary monetary policy in a sluggish economy by lowering the central bank rate (CBR) and buying bonds, in effect stimulating growth by encouraging investment and consumption through cheap money.
IMF Adviser Patrick Njoroge Appointed as Central Bank of Kenya Governor
Dr Njoroge, who has decades of experience in economic policy formulation and research, will now have a chance to test his ideas as a key member of the CBK’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
The Yale-educated economist has been in his current role at the IMF since 2012, prior to which he was the deputy division chief, finance department since 2006.
Dr Njoroge was the IMF mission chief to Dominica, a Caribbean island nation, from 2005 to 2006. This was his second position at IMF, having served as an economist between 1995 and 2005.
Dr Njoroge has two decades of experience at the institution that is considered one of the most powerful in the management of the global economy.
