The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved 121.1 million U.S. dollars in emergency assistance under the Rapid Financing Instrument and Rapid Credit Facility for Kyrgyzstan to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the press service of the IMF Representation in Kyrgyzstan reported Saturday, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
The report said that this is the second IMF emergency loan for the Kyrgyz Republic since the outbreak of the pandemic. Earlier, on March 26 this year, the IMF Executive Board approved a disbursement of 120.9 million U.S. dollars.
This additional disbursement brings the total IMF emergency loan to the Kyrgyz Republic to address the COVID-19 pandemic to 242 million U.S. dollars.
The outbreak of the pandemic has weakened the macroeconomic outlook and opened a balance of payments gap estimated at about 500 million U.S. dollars. There is an unprecedented high level of uncertainty surrounding this projection. The IMF emergency support will finance health and economic relief, shores up confidence, and catalyzes donor support, the report said.
A total of 931 COVID-19 cases have been registered in Kyrgyzstan, while 658 have recovered and 12 have died.