IMF to provide assistance to 25 countries, to counter the Coronavirus

Washington: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has come up with relief aid for the 25 poorest countries in the world with the announcement to provide financial assistance to counter the Coronavirus pandemic. As per this, these 25 countries have been awarded a moratorium on the repayments of their existing loans by the IMF. At the same time, the IMF will be providing fresh funding to these countries to counter the pandemic.

Kristalina Georgieva, the Chairwoman and Managing Director of the IMF, made the announcement in this regard. The ‘Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust’ (CCRT), of the IMF, announced the moratorium and fresh funding. A similar relief had been provided in 2015 when the Ebola epidemic had ravaged the West African region.

The countries to be provided relief by the IMF include Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, DR Congo, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands and Togo from Africa and Afghanistan, Yemen, Tajikistan and Nepal from Asia.

The IMF said that this loan was being provided to enable these countries to provide healthcare and other facilities to the countries’ population. These countries will be provided emergency medical and other aid for the next six months to fight the Coronavirus pandemic. Currently, the CCRT has an available fund of USD 50 billion. The United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands have contributed to the fund. The IMF chief has appealed that the CDRT funding should also be made available to the developing countries.