Kenya is seeking $500 million in funds to help cushion the economy after the global economic crisis cut exports and foreign investment, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said. The funds are over and above the $200 million loan that Kenya has obtained from the International Monetary Fund, Odinga said in an interview in Cape Town yesterday, where he was attending the World Economic Forum on Africa. The global recession has curbed Kenya’s foreign currency earnings as exports fell and remittances from Kenyans living abroad declined.

Nairobi sweets manufacturer Swan Industries has been placed under receivership by Investment and Mortgage Bank (I&M Bank) in a move that threatens to render more than 100 people jobless, Business Daily reported. The Kisumu-based company has been unable to pay a loan, which the bank refused to disclose on confidentiality grounds, on reduced sales in western Kenya and cutthroat competition from low-cost producers based in Nairobi. The bank appointed Mr Vipul Shah and Mr Dipesh Shah of Nairobi-based VSC Consultants as joint receiver managers.