WASHINGTON — The coronavirus pandemic is putting increasing strains on emerging market economies, but the International Monetary Fund has sufficient resources to meet their needs for now, IMF officials said on Wednesday. More than 80 member countries, mostly emerging markets, have already requested some $20 billion in emergency zero- and low-interest loans from the IMF, they said, and IMF staff was working to process those requests as quickly as possible. "We see the crisis shifting to emerging markets. Low-income countries are now all seeing the pickup in infection rates that we've seen in China and the advanced economies," said one of the officials. Funding needs were greater in some of those economies due to significant capital outflows and a sharp drop in commodities prices, the official added.

Source: International New York Times April 01, 2020 21:11 UTC