COVID-19: IMF Approves Debt Relief For 25 Poor Countries

The International Monetary Fund announced on Monday an immediate debt relief for 25 developing countries to help them release funds to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

“This grants subsidies to the poorest and most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations at an early stage in the next six months and will help them channel more of their meager financial resources into vital emergency medical efforts and other relief efforts. ”, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement.

The IMF board approved debt relief for countries, almost all in Africa, but also Afghanistan, Yemen, Nepal and Haiti.

The fund, together with the World Bank, has asked rich countries to stop collecting debt payments from poor countries from May 1 to June 2021.

Debt relief will be financed by the IMF’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT), which was created for the first time to combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2015 and has been reused to help countries defend themselves against COVID- 19.

The fund currently has US $ 500 million, with Japan, Great Britain, China and the Netherlands among its main contributors.

“I ask other donors to help us replenish the trust’s resources and further increase our ability to provide additional debt service relief for two years to our poorest member countries,” said Georgieva.

Last week, the World Bank announced it would distribute $ 160 billion in emergency aid over 15 months to help countries affected by the virus, including $ 14 billion in debt payments from 76 poor countries to other governments.