NAIROBI, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan shilling declined 0.3 percent on Thursday after the expiry of a 1 billion U.S. dollar standby loan the country had with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Kenya had secured the loan, which expired on Wednesday, to help cushion the shilling from pressure from international currencies.

The shilling responded to the expiry by declining to 101.00 against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, down from Wednesday's 100.75.

The local unit traded at a low of 101.05 at some point on Thursday before the central bank sold an unspecified amount of dollars to prop it up.

Initially, Kenya had secured a 1.5 billion dollar stand-by loan with the IMF, but it requested for a six-month extension of 1 billion dollars, which it had not used by Wednesday. Enditem