Over 20 countries asked for aid to battle coronavirus pandemic: IMF chief

International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva on March 16, in a blog post on the International Monetary Fund’s website, said that more than 20 countries have asked for monetary help in the form of aid from the global lender. Though the IMF has declined to name any country, media reports suggest that Iran had requested the IMF for aid to tackle the outbreak of coronavirus. According to Kristalina Georgieva's post, IMF stands ready to mobilise its $1 trillion lending capacity to help member countries. 

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Kristalina Georgieva in her blog said, "As a first line of defense, the Fund can deploy its flexible and rapid-disbursing emergency response toolkit to help countries with urgent balance-of-payment needs. These instruments could provide in the order of $50 billion to emerging and developing economies. Up to $10 billion could be made available to our low-income members through our concessional financing facilities, which carry zero interest rates."

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The global pandemic has affected many developing economies around the world. Iran is the worst affected as the lack of resources plus economic sanctions from the United States has taken a huge toll on the country where 853 people have lost their lives since the outbreak began escalating in December 2019. Iran last week had sought an emergency loan of $5 billion to fight the outbreak.

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The IMF managing director further commended the United Kingdom for pledging $195 million, which means the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) now has $400 million available for potential debt relief. Kristalina said that IMF's goal is to boost the CCRT funds to $1 billion with the help of other donors. 

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Coronavirus outbreak

The COVID-19 has claimed more than 7,100 lives across the world and has infected over 1,82,000 people globally since it first broke out in December 2019. China is the most affected country in the world as experts believe that the virus originated from a seafood market in Wuhan city, the epicentre of the disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally. 

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