WASHINGTON, March 27 (Xinhua) -- International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday that "there is a clear commitment" from Group of Twenty (G20) countries to mobilize their collective medical capacity and share experience in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The G20 leaders' call brought the countries representing 85 percent of the world economy together to focus actions and coordinate among themselves with very strong concentration on the immediate task of containing the health crisis," Georgieva said at a video press conference, in response to a question from Xinhua.
"There is a clear commitment from the G20 countries to make sure that they mobilize their collective capacity on the medical front, that trade in medical supplies is not constrained and that they share experience so action can be more impactful," the IMF chief said.
Georgieva said G20 countries are also bringing together the package of measures on the monetary and the fiscal front in a coordinated manner, noting that G20 has announced fiscal measures totaling 5 trillion dollars, which accounts for over 6 percent of global GDP.
"We international organizations are drawn in terms of the collective response, our engagement on the policy front and on financing and also in terms of making sure that this action plan is robust and effective," Georgieva told reporters.
The IMF chief noted China is ahead of the rest of the world in terms of being impacted by the coronavirus. "Having taken containment measures with a huge drag on growth in their first quarter, they are now stepping up production," she said.
"And by doing all this, not only they are marking a path from health crisis to recovery, but they are offering tremendous expertise and experience to the rest of the world," Georgieva said, adding that China is now "a very important source" of health supplies and health experience that they are sharing with the rest of the world.
"China doing better in 2020 is very important for China. It is also very important for the rest of the world given China's share in the world economy," she said.
The IMF managing director also highlighted the importance to support emerging markets and developing economies amid the crisis, noting that the IMF has already received 81 emergency financing requests, 50 from lower-income countries and 31 from middle-income countries.
"We are proposing to double our emergency financing capacity; simplify our processes; and fill the gap in our concessional financing," Georgieva said.
In response to the mounting economic fallout of COVID-19, the IMF announced early this month it is making available about 50 billion U.S. dollars through its rapid-disbursing emergency financing facilities for low-income and emerging market countries, and 10 billion dollars of that is intended to support the poorest members at zero interest.
Noting that many IMF member countries are faced with rapidly building pressures on debt, Georgieva told reporters that the IMF Board on Thursday approved changes in the application of the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT), which can provide some debt relief to IMF's poorest member countries.
"We are seeking support from our membership to increase the capacity of the CCRT," she said. We have received pledges of support from the UK, Japan and China -- and we hope others will follow quickly."
The CCRT now has about 400 million dollars available, and the multilateral lender aims to raise that to over 1 billion dollars.
