International Monetary Fund
IMF governance has incorporated new policies and financial instruments into its agenda to better serve their member countries during this pandemic. The IMF commits its financial influence, policy advice, and development resources to help Latin America and the Caribbean achieve a stronger recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to meet emergency demand, the IMF has doubled lending through the Rapid Credit Facility and the Rapid Financing Institute. This emergency financing was provided quickly and unconditionally. As the pandemic continues and countries begin maintenance and recovery, the IMF has begun to focus on a sustainable recovery. In order to ensure funding is used for its designated purposes, the IMF has implemented additional reporting and auditing requirements. The IMF has also helped countries achieve debt relief by replacing debts to the IMF with grants from the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Fund, successfully calling for G20 countries to suspend debt payments for low and middle income countries until 2021 and helping to negotiate debts with private lenders. Separately, Argentina and the IMF continue to negotiate a new lending program to replace the existing one. In total, the IMF has provided over $66 billion to Latin America and the Caribbean in COVID-19 relief funding.
The IMF website contains a COVID-19 hub with an economic policy tracker for 196 countries, a list of IMF financial assistance, and Special Series notes for country leaders. The IMF Blog Page publishes multimedia posts regarding the global social effects created by the pandemic. The organization is especially concerned about the unequal effects of the pandemic. The service sector has faced a much slower recovery than the manufacturing economy, while women and minorities have also been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in Latin America. In October, the IMF published a Regional Economic Outlook for the Western Hemisphere, predicting a 8.1% contraction in real gross domestic product (GDP) for Latin America and the Caribbean. However, given the region’s economic recovery in the third quarter of 2020, the IMF has since revised that prediction to a 7.4% contraction. The IMF predicts a 4.1% GDP growth in 2021 and expects the region to return to pre-pandemic growth by 2025. The organization has also published a digital map to visually demonstrate economic output loss and has created the Learning Channel on YouTube, offering short and targeted on-demand videos, to assist in virtual education efforts.
Related Country Pages
The following country pages document the IMF’s response to the pandemic in specific areas, or contain links to further resources about the IMF.
Select resources for the IMF:
To learn more about the IMF, visit https://www.imf.org/external/index.htm.
Georgieva, K. (2020, April 09). Confronting the Crisis: Priorities for the Global Economy. International Monetary Fund. https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/04/07/sp040920-SMs2020-Curtain-Raiser.
IMF Blog. (2021, February 8). Latin America and Caribbean’s Winding Road to Recovery. https://blogs.imf.org/2021/02/08/latin-america-and-caribbeans-winding-road-to-recovery/.
————. (2020, August 4). Global Imbalances and the COVID-19 Crisis. https://blogs.imf.org/2020/08/04/global-imbalances-and-the-covid-19-crisis/.
International Monetary Fund. (n.d.). At a Glance: The IMF’s Firepower. https://www.imf.org/en/About/infographics/imf-firepower-lending.
————. (n.d.). Fiscal Policies Database. https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19/Fiscal-Policies-Database-in-Response-to-COVID-19.
————. (n.d.). IMF Executive Board Approves US$594 Million in Emergency Assistance to Guatemala to Help Address the COVID-19 Pandemic. https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/06/10/pr20241-guatemala-imf-executive-board-approves-us-594-million-in-emergency-assistance.
————. (n.d.) Policy Responses to COVID19. https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19/Policy-Responses-to-COVID-19.
————. (n.d.). Questions and Answers: The IMF’s response to COVID-19. https://www.imf.org/en/About/FAQ/imf-response-to-covid-19#Q1.
————. (2019, January 16). Homepage. https://blogs.imf.org/.
————. (2020). Latest World Economic Outlook Growth Projections. https://blogs.imf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/WEO-FINAL-projections-table.png.
————. (2020, February 28). IMF Capacity Development. https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/imf-capacity-development.
————. (2020, May 20). How the IMF Can Help Countries Address the Economic Impact of Coronavirus. https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2020/02/28/how-the-imf-can-help-countries-address-the-economic-impact-of-coronavirus.
————. (2020, April 1). World Economic Outlook, April 2020: The Great Lockdown. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2020/04/14/weo-april-2020.
————. (2020, June 1). World Economic Outlook Update, June 2020: A Crisis Like No Other, An Uncertain Recovery. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2020/06/24/WEOUpdateJune2020.
————. (2020, July 2). Regional Resident Representative Office in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. https://www.imf.org/en/Countries/ResRep/CAM-Region.
————. (2020, July 13). Toward an Integrated Policy Framework for Open Economies. https://blogs.imf.org/2020/07/13/toward-an-integrated-policy-framework-for-open-economies/.
————. (2020, October). Regional Economic Outlook for Western Hemisphere. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/REO/WH/Issues/2020/10/13/regional-economic-outlook-western-hemisphere#FullText.
Martin, E. & Gillespie, P. (2021, March 11). IMF sees upside in delaying Argentina deal after October. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-10/imf-sees-upside-in-delaying-a-deal-with-argentina-after-october.
