The current coronavirus crisis is far graver than the global financial crisis a decade ago, but the IMF has a $1 trillion war chest ready to fight it, said the head of the International Monetary Fund on Friday.
“WE ARE DETERMINED TO USE THE $1-TRILLION WAR CHEST”
“This is way worse than the global financial crisis and it is a crisis that requires us all to come together,” Kristalina Georgieva told more than 400 journalists at a virtual press conference hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) at its Geneva headquarters.
“Emerging market and developing economies are particularly vulnerable – and this is a point that I want to emphasize,” she said, noting that more than 90 countries have so far approached the IMF for emergency funding.
“Their health systems are already fragile, and now they have been hit terribly hard economically. The IMF is giving those countries high priority,” said Georgieva. “We have a $1 trillion war chest,” to deal with this surge, she said.