The IMF will provide grants totaling $100 million to be used as debt relief to the three countries worst hit by the Ebola epidemic.
Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone will use the funds to cover the cost of servicing their debt.
These grants come in addition to $130 million in emergency assistance the IMF disbursed in September under an existing loan program, as well as about $160 million in additional loans to the three countries proposed for IMF Executive Board approval later this month. The money for the grants comes from a newly created Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCR), replacing the trust fund that was established to help Haiti recover from the devastating earthquake in 2010.
The new trust will be a permanent feature and in the future will make available grants to provide debt relief to eligible low-income countries recovering from a catastrophic natural disaster or seeking to contain the potentially catastrophic spread of a life-threatening epidemic within and across international borders.
The debt relief initiative and additional lending to the Ebola-hit countries were outlined by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde to the G-20 heads of state in Brisbane, Australia. This is the first time that the Fund has provided grants to support a country in containing an evolving natural disaster with international spillover effects.
Speaking to IMF Survey shortly after the Executive Board’s decision to create the new trust, Sean Nolan, Deputy Director of the IMF’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department, said the trust would help poor countries deal with a broader scope of natural disasters.
IMF Survey: How does the new Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust work and what does it mean to those countries that are currently struggling with Ebola?The IMF will provide grants totaling $100 million to be used as debt relief to the three countries worst hit by the Ebola epidemic.
Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone will use the funds to cover the cost of servicing their debt.
These grants come in addition to $130 million in emergency assistance the IMF disbursed in September under an existing loan program, as well as about $160 million in additional loans to the three countries proposed for IMF Executive Board approval later this month. The money for the grants comes from a newly created Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCR), replacing the trust fund that was established to help Haiti recover from the devastating earthquake in 2010.
The new trust will be a permanent feature and in the future will make available grants to provide debt relief to eligible low-income countries recovering from a catastrophic natural disaster or seeking to contain the potentially catastrophic spread of a life-threatening epidemic within and across international borders.
The debt relief initiative and additional lending to the Ebola-hit countries were outlined by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde to the G-20 heads of state in Brisbane, Australia. This is the first time that the Fund has provided grants to support a country in containing an evolving natural disaster with international spillover effects.
Speaking to IMF Survey shortly after the Executive Board’s decision to create the new trust, Sean Nolan, Deputy Director of the IMF’s Strategy, Policy, and Review Department, said the trust would help poor countries deal with a broader scope of natural disasters.