OREANDA-NEWS. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is ready to allocate 50 billion US dollars to support the least developed countries in the fight against COVID-19. This was stated by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

“For low-income countries, we have rapid-disbursing emergency financing of up to 10 billion dollars (50 percent of quota of eligible members) that can be accessed without a full-fledged IMF program. Other members can access emergency financing through the Rapid Financing Instrument. This facility could provide about 40 billion dollars for emerging markets that could potentially approach us for financial support,” Georgieva said at a joint press conference with World Bank President David Malpass.

She added that the spread of coronavirus poses a serious threat to the global economy. “Under any scenario, global growth in 2020 will drop below last year’s level,” she noted. According to her, accurate estimates of the impact depend on the epidemic itself and on the effectiveness of the measures taken.