The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva pointed out that the crisis, sparked by the spread of the emerging "Corona" virus, is the worst since the Great Depression.
Georgieva confirmed, during a remote press conference to the Bulgarian media, that the repercussions of the virus will lead to the contraction of the economies of 170 countries around the world this year.
Explaining that developing countries may be most affected by the consequences of the spread of the virus, she said: «Countries most affected at the present time from the pandemic are not necessarily the countries that will be the most economically affected, as what worries me most is the developing and emerging countries».
It is noteworthy that the International Monetary Fund announced that it would provide immediate debt relief to 25 member states under its trust fund for disaster containment, to enable it to focus its scarce resources on fighting the Coronavirus pandemic.
Kristalina Georgieva indicated that the Fund's Executive Board approved the first group of countries that would receive grants to cover the debt service obligations owed to the IMF for an initial period of six months.
She also revealed that the Disaster Inclusion Trust Fund has about $500 million in resources, including new pledges of $185 million from Britain and $100 million from Japan and undisclosed sums from China, the Netherlands, and other countries. The fund seeks to increase the amount of available funds to 1.4 billion dollars.
Source (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Edited)
