CORONAVIRUS: IMF TO THE RESCUE

The International Monetary Fund has reserved $50 billion to respond to requests for emergency aid due to the coronavirus’s damage to national economies.

Ten billion dollars will available as direct aid for poor countries; the other $40 billion will be made available through a variety of funding mechanisms.

When it receives a request for help, the fund will assess the country’s individual situation and decide the amount and kind of help needed, said Kristalina Georgieva, the fund’s managing director.

“We are in the early stages but… we will act very quickly when requests come,” she said.

The fund has scrapped its prediction of 3.3 percent growth in the global economy this year and will settle on a new figure after the virus’s rampage is contained. But the IMF has forecast that this year’s growth rate will fall behind last year’s 2.9 percent mark.

TREND FORECAST: This cash injection will do little or nothing to reverse the downward economic slide. As with most of the stimulus measures, the funds will go to friends, i.e. the special interests the pull the political strings to favor their interests.