The International Monetary Fund Holds A Virtual Press Briefing

The video press briefing was started by Mr. Rice of the Communication Department with the briefing accepting video questions by means of WebEx. Journalists were permitted to pose any question progressively. The IMF’s briefing was to update the world on new steps that the Fund has been taking including throughout the late spring to enable their membership to address the COVID-19 emergency.

The institution has moved with extraordinary speed giving crisis financing to about 75 nations as at now, with an aggregate of more than 30 billion dollars up to this point. This incorporates help to 47 low-income nations adding up to more than 10 billion to those low-income nations.

This crisis financing from the IMF comes without conventional restriction, and the Fund’s financing is being utilized to help government spending, especially with an emphasis on health sector and obviously with the attention on assisting with moderating the pandemic.

The IMF has given debt relief to every one of the 29 of the least fortunate member nations who were qualified under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT). And that is adding up to more than 250 million now.

Their total loaning commitments in all cases remain at around 270 billion dollars with around 33% of that affirmed since the end of March 2020, just in the last 6 months or so. The institution has an extra 730 billion dollars in loaning limit that they could put to utilize conceivably at the service of membership. That takes them to that trillion dollar number.

Speaking about IMF’s Lending Tracker, the press briefing itemized the IMF activities and loaning under their crisis financing to assist nations with alleviating the emergency.

An expansion to that Lending Tracker over the late spring has been that they presently include responsibilities made by governments with regards to crisis financing from the IMF, to fight corruption and guarantee good governance as far as the crisis financing provided by the IMF.

In the Press Briefing, the monetary fund outfit, also revealed that, the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank are coming up quick. They will be held essentially this year, as had been recently declared, and that will be from October 12 to 18, 2020.

It is expected that Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund will be speaking on September 16 and 17, 2020 at an event hosted by the companions of Europe where she will take an interest in the gathering of the G20 Finance and Health Ministers, and obviously, that meeting will centred around the global pandemic.

The IMF talked lengthily on numerous issues including issues surrounding Lebanon, Ukraine, Angola, Ecuador, Argentina, Congo, India, where the starter GDP estimate for the 2020 second quarter execution in India came in more fragile than anticipated at around minus 23.9 percent, that is year on year, reflecting, obviously, the serious effect of the pandemic and the resulting lockdowns.

The contraction in economic activity reflected broad-based weaknesses in industries on services with construction, manufacturing, hotels, and transportation, sectors suffering the most.

In IMF’s last WEO update, that’s the World Economic Outlook, the IMF projected growth in India at minus 4.5 percent and 6 percent, respectively, for FY 20-21 and FY 21-22. And near-term growth outlook continues to be clouded by the global and domestic slowdown and uncertainties from the pandemic with significant downside risks.

Also, Belarus approached the Fund with a request to discuss possible emergency assistance, but no agreement was reached, and IMF is yet to find a way to bridge significant differences about the appropriate response to the present challenges.

The Rapid Financing Instrument, which is IMF’s emergency — one of their emergency financing mechanisms, does not carry hard conditionalities.

More of the briefing can be found at: IMF.org