Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said in a statement that the World Bank and other multilateral development banks are mobilising $200 billion to help countries respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Georgieva stated earlier in the day that the IMF this year will delay the release of its External Sector Report because of the pandemic crisis.
"Reigniting trade flows, which have brought tremendous benefits to the global economy over the past several decades, will be necessary for a strong and lasting recovery. The Fund will continue to support efforts to modernise the rules-based trading system through advocacy, policy advice and analyses. We will continue to provide a rigorous, evenhanded and multilaterally consistent assessment of external positions for the whole membership. Given the crisis, the 2020 External Sector Report will be delayed", Georgieva said.
She also stressed that the IMF is set to help member states strengthen their policies to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and create conditions for economic recovery.
"Tackling the acute crisis requires multiple policy levers. Our ongoing work on the Integrated Policy Framework will help members, especially emerging market economies, navigate the complex interactions among monetary, exchange rate, macro-prudential, and capital flow management and other policies amid volatile global capital flows. We will also deepen our analysis of the implications of lower-for-longer interest rates”, she stated.
The IMF's managing director further elaborated that the current crisis will add to the already-high public debt levels in a lot of nations, adding that the IMF is prepared to help member states resolve unsustainable debt situations.
"We will continue to enhance debt transparency and build capacity to manage debt by pursuing our multipronged approach, jointly with the World Bank. We will also examine recent challenges in sovereign debt resolution and complete our reviews of the debt sustainability framework for market access countries and the debt limits policy", she said.
Earlier in April, Georgieva said that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a world-wide recession and its effects will be worse than the financial crisis of 2008.
On 11 March, the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest WHO data, more than 1,844,000 cases of COVID-19 have been registered in the world, and over 117,000 people have died from the disease.
