The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed its readiness to mobilize $1 trillion lending capacity to help countries fight the coronavirus pandemic. This disclosure was made by the Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, who called for global coordination on monetary, fiscal and regulatory support.
According to Georgieva, the Fund has about $50 billion in flexible and rapid-disbursing emergency funds for developing nations, with as much as $10 billion available at zero interest rates.
Giving a breakdown of the money in its disposal, Georgieva said the Fund already has 40 ongoing loan arrangements with combined commitments of $200 billion that can quickly provide crisis financing, she said. There are also about 20 more countries interested in support.
“The fund also has about $400 million in its Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust to help poor countries with debt relief. With the help of donations, like $195 million recently from the U.K., the IMF hopes to boost that to $1 billion,” she said.
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The IMF Boss said the $1 trillion lending capacity was for the sole purpose of helping its members. Speaking further, she praised central banks around the world for the swap lines announced to emerging-market economies.
What you should know: This announcement comes after the Fund said earlier this month that the global economic outlook had shifted to more dire scenarios and that it’s still difficult to predict the economic impact of the virus.
Recall that Nairametrics had reported when the IMF, alongside the World Bank pledged to assist member countries in combating the virus. The Fund had promised to use all necessary and available instruments, including emergency financing, policy advice, and technical assistance to assist nations, especially poor countries in handling the outbreak.
Meanwhile, the IMF had on Friday ordered all staff at its Washington headquarters to work from home after an employee was diagnosed with the virus.
