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IMF considers $50bn plan to end COVID-19 pandemic

IMF considers $50bn plan to end COVID-19 pandemic

Mubasher: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently proposed a $50 billion plan to end the COVID-19 pandemic by vaccinating at least 40% of every country’s population by the end of 2021 and 60% by mid-2022.

The IMF intends to redirect excess vaccine jabs from advanced economies to the developing world, Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, said during her virtual participation in the G7 Leaders’ Summit.

The G7 has a commitment of 1 billion doses of vaccine in 2022, which is expected to make a material difference in the fight against the pandemic, Georgieva added.

The IMF plan has been put together with the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The IMF has emphasised the crucial importance of grants to finance this plan, the official said, noting that nearly one-third of the needed $35 billion in grant funding has been secured from public and private sources.

Georgieva stated that the G7 committed $650 billion as allocation of the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), representing the largest issuance in history.

“This will help boost global reserves while providing space for necessary fiscal expenditures to exit the pandemic and enable more sustainable recoveries,” the IMF official said.

Voluntarily channelling SDRs as well as budget loans are forecast to reach a total global ambition of $100 billion for the most vulnerable countries.

The IMF had expected the global economy to grow at 4.9% in 2020, down by 1.9% from its economic forecasts in April last year due to the outbreak of the virus.