(VOVWORLD) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group have pledged to provide billions of dollars of emergency financing for member countries that could seek support in light of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The IMF is making available about 50 billion US dollars through its rapid-disbursing emergency financing facilities for low-income and emerging market countries, of which 10 billion dollars is intended to support the poorest members at zero interest.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said at a joint press conference Wednesday with the World Bank Group: “What we’re doing right now is reviewing country by country what are the financial needs and engaging with these countries to make sure that they are aware of this resource and we can immediately respond to them. We can assure you that we’d do that very quickly when the requests come.”
The World Bank, meanwhile, has announced that it will provide an initial package of up to 12 billion US dollars in "immediate support" to assist countries coping with the health and economic impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Eurozone countries pledge to implement appropriate policy measures to ensure the regional economic growth.
The Bank of Canada has cut its benchmark interest rate to 1.25% from 1.75% in the face of a fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak and said it was prepared to cut again if needed to support economic growth.
The Indonesian government will set up a task force to step up efforts to detect and handle COVID-19.
South Africa said it has thoroughly prepared medical capacity in case the Covid-19 appears in its country. So far South Africa has reported no Covid-19 infection cases.
The Japanese coalition government and opposition parties have agreed to submit to the parliament a revised law on Infectious Diseases to counter the new coronavirus outbreak in the country. When the bill to revise the law is enacted, the prime minister will be granted authority to issue a state of emergency in a certain area for a limited period of time if he deems that a swift. In response to the state of emergency declaration, the governors of Japan's 47 prefectures will have the authority to call on local residents to refrain from going out and either request or order restrictions on the use of facilities where a large number of people gather, such as schools, sports centers and movie theaters.