Kenya could soon be receiving loans from the International Monetary Fund again after a two-year gap, according to the country's newly-elected president.

President Mwai Kibaki said talks with a top-level IMF delegation that included its Director for Africa, Abdoulaye Bio-Tchane, had gone well.

"The frosty relations between Kenya and the IMF were now history and the focus was now on future engagement," President Kibaki said in a press statement on Thursday.

"On his part, Abdoulaye said the IMF will seek to have an early engagement with Kenya," the president's statement said.

Clearer picture soon

Mr Bio-Tchane is due to give a press conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Friday morning.

"It would be very, very difficult to predict at this point" when aid might resume," IMF spokesperson for the Africa region Lucie Mboto Fouda told BBC News Online.

"We'll have a clear picture tomorrow" of the likely timeframe for an IMF mission to Kenya to thrash out a new loan programme, she said.

Both the IMF and the World Bank have told Kenya it must pass laws to deal with corruption before lending can be resumed.

Loans were suspended two years ago after the IMF complained of "serious setbacks" in the fight against corruption.

Mr Kibaki, elected three weeks ago, has pledged to clean up the problem.

Hard sell

Parliament is due to reconvene on 28 January to vote on two bills which the IMF wants passed before agreeing new loans.

Even if the bills are passed, analysts believe the IMF is anticipating a tough job convincing international donors to dip into their coffers to back Kenya's economy due to the country's tarnished reputation.

They expect it to take months to agree a new country programme.

Mr Kibaki was elected president on 27 December when his National Rainbow Coalition swept the Kenya National African Union party from power.