* Grants meant for IMF鈥檚 poorest, most vulnerable members for 6-month debt obligations

* Fund projects Nigeria鈥檚 economy will shrink by 3.4 percent in 2020
Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻
At a critical time of the pressing need for several economies in the world to rebound, following the general downturn occasioned by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has excluded Nigeria from the list of 25 countries it granted $785 million debt relief recently.

It was learnt that Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of IMF, had approved immediate debt relief to the 25 of its member countries under the revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT).

IMF in a statement said: 鈥淭he CCRT can currently provide about $500 million in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent $185 million pledge by the United Kingdom and $100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources.鈥�

The beneficiary countries are Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, D.R., The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Haiti.

Others are Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, S茫o Tom茅 and Pr铆ncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo, and Yemen.

Georgieva stated that 鈥渢oday, I am pleased to say that our Executive Board approved immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMF鈥檚 member countries under the IMF鈥檚 revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) as part of the Fund鈥檚 response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

鈥淭his provides grants to our poorest and most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months and will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts.

鈥淭he CCRT can currently provide about $500 million in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent $185 million pledge by the United Kingdom and $100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources.

鈥淥thers, including China and the Netherlands, are also stepping forward with important contributions,鈥� added the statement.

The Fund urged other donors to help in replenishing the Trust鈥檚 resources and boosting further its ability to provide additional debt service relief for a full two years to poorest member countries.

Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund has projected that the Nigerian economy will contract by 3.4 percent in 2020, face its worst recession in 30 years, while recording 2.4 percent growth in 2021.

绿帽献妻 gathered that IMF Tuesday, April 14 predicted that Nigerian economy would contract by 3.4 percent this year, just as the impact of distressing COVID-19 pandemic hits the country and other commodity exporting countries globally.

According to the Fund, the nation鈥檚 economy, however, will by 2.4 per cent in 2021.

This forecast is contained in the World Economic Outlook released at the ongoing virtual meeting of the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington D.C., United States.

Gita Gopinath, IMF Chief Economist, in her address at the meeting, stated that the world has changed 鈥榙ramatically鈥� in the three months since its last update of the World Economic Outlook in January 2020.

Gopinath said: 鈥淎 rare disaster, a Coronavirus pandemic, has resulted in a tragically large number of human lives being lost.

鈥淎s countries implement necessary quarantines and social distancing practices to contain the pandemic, the world has been put in a Great Lockdown.鈥�

The magnitude and speed of collapse in activity that has followed is unlike anything experienced in our lifetimes,鈥� she declared.