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By Andrea Shalal and David Lawder
WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - 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.
The global lender is "quite a bit away" from exhausting its
$1 trillion in total lending capacity and is working to identify
new sources of funding and liquidity for member countries, the
officials said during a conference call with reporters.
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.
The virus has infected more than 878,000 people and killed
43,412 around the world.
In addition to existing programs, the IMF is looking at
reviving a proposal for a short-term liquidity line that was
developed several years ago, and could be quickly implemented if
approved by members, the officials said.
There was also discussion about allocation of Special
Drawing Rights, the currency of the IMF, much as was done in
2009, a move that would boost funding available for emerging
market countries, they said, but that would take longer to
implement.
While it was critical to help countries respond to the
virus, the IMF could not deviate from its fundamental principles
calling for debt to remain sustainable, said one of the
officials.
The officials said there was broad support for a joint
proposal by the IMF and the World Bank calling on official
bilateral creditors to suspend debt service payments - also
known as a standstill - for countries that needed help during
the current crisis.
That did not mean the IMF was pressing for a broader round
of debt forgiveness, said one of the officials.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder
Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)