NAIROBI, March 24 (Reuters) – Kenya has applied for a new lending programme from the International Monetary Fund in order to factor in unused money from the current programme, which both sides walked away from last week, Finance Minister John Mbadi said on Monday.

The East African nation and the IMF agreed last week to scupper the ninth and final review of the current programme, which was set to expire next month. Mbadi said the decision to do so was down to time limitations.

“Because there is a carryover, there is some money that we have not utilized in the ninth review, then we agreed that there’s a possibility of a funded programme,” he told Reuters.

Mbadi said there was roughly $800 million left on the table.

President William Ruto’s government has struggled to get its finances back on track after a borrowing spree led to a surge in debt-servicing costs.

(Reporting by Duncan Miriri, editing by Libby George and Alex Richardson)