Iran asks IMF for $5bn to fight coronavirus as cases reach 10,000 [View all]

[yaesu]

Source: Financial Times

Iran said it has asked the IMF for $5bn of emergency funding to help it fight the social and economic impact of coronavirus, leaving the multilateral lender to take a decision on whether to lend to the Islamic republic that is currently subject to sweeping US sanctions.

Last week the IMF said it had allocated $50bn for countries struggling with the outbreak and Iran is one of the countries hardest hit. So far 429 people have died and more than 10,000 have tested positive in the country.

Abdolnaser Hemmati, Iran’s central bank governor, said in a statement on Thursday that he had written to Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF managing director on March 6 to request support from the emergency fund.

“Considering the widespread prevalence of coronavirus in our country and the necessity to forcefully continue preventive measures and medical treatment and to battle against its economic consequences, we demand to use $5bn from the fast financing facilities, given the size of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s quota in the fund,” he said.


Read more: https://www.ft.com/content/db67f794-645d-11ea-a6cd-df28cc3c6a68

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Things must be extremely bad in Iran because this is the first time Iran asked for any financial aid since the 1970's revolution.