The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the EU on Monday announced a contribution of 183 million euros, (217 million dollars) to the IMF’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT).
The IMF said this in a statement it issued on its website in Washington D. C.
It said that the CCRT provided debt service relief to countries hit by catastrophic events including public health crises.
Managing Director, IMF, Kristalina Georgieva said she was very thankful to the EU and its member-countries for the generous contributions to the CCRT.
According to her, it is a critical step to helping the world’s most vulnerable countries provide healthcare and economic support for their people during the ongoing pandemic.
“This is an unprecedented crisis that has hit low-income countries, especially hard.
“Contributions like this will enable countries to free up resources to cope with COVID-19 and to increase health and social spending,” she said.
She said that the EU and the IMF had strong partnership on development financing.
Georgieva, however, urged other member-countries to join the EU in contributing to the CCRT as contributions from them were instrumental in helping the fund support the most vulnerable countries.
Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships said the commission was determined to continue supporting its partner countries in maintaining their path toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in spite of dire financial situations.
“Debt levels were already high before the crisis and in many countries, they are now simply becoming unsustainable.
“This is why we have decided to contribute 183 million euros for debt relief through this IMF mechanism,” Urpilainen said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the CCRT allows the IMF to support international debt relief efforts when poor and vulnerable countries are hit by natural disasters or public health crisis including COVID-19 pandemic with grants for debt service relief.
The IMF had called upon the international community to help replenish the CCRT, which had limited resources available for catastrophe relief at this time.
According to the statement, the IMF has already disbursed about 500 million dollars in immediate debt relief to all 29 CCRT-eligible members since the pandemic began this year.
Other contributor countries to CCRT include the UK, Japan, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, China, Mexico, Sweden, Bulgaria, Luxembourg and Malta.
