Nigeria, 69 other countries get $99b IMF support

Nigeria, 69 other countries get $99b IMF support

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday released its updated economic funding support totalling $99 billion to 70 emerging and developing economies to tackle COVID-19 pandemic.

In a report, the IMF said it advanced $29 billion under the Rapid Credit Facility and Rapid Financing instrument to Nigeria and other beneficiary countries.

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Nigeria got $3.4 billion of the $29 billion to enable it strengthen balance of payment and local currency.

The fund said other countries also benefited from the support fund through other channels, including augmentations under existing programmes, to the tune of over $70 billion, thus bringing the total support fund to the $99 billion.

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IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the fund was meant to assist Nigeria’s fight against COVID-19 and resolve urgent balance of payment needs.

The fund said even compared to previous crises such as the Ebola epidemic, the needs triggered by this current pandemic are unprecedented.

“The fund’s rapid response helped many countries to contain and mitigate the impact of this external shock,’’ according to the report.

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This financial assistance does not have traditional IMF conditionalities and phasing of disbursements over time. But countries still undertake policy commitments to address their difficulties, and governance commitments about how those resources are to be spent.

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