The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved temporary modifications to access limits under the large natural disaster (LND) windows of the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) and of the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI).
The modifications increased the annual and cumulative access limits of obtaining finances and loans under the LND windows of the RCF and RFI by 50 percent of the quota.
The IMF said that the action came in line with other recent decisions to temporarily modify access limits under the RCF and RFI to increase available emergency financing for countries responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that these actions enhance the IMF’s agility and flexibility to respond to large natural disasters.
The modifications to access limits under the LND windows of the RCF and RFI will be in effect throughout the end of 2021, according to the IMF.
“This is in line with the lapse of the increases in annual and cumulative access limits that apply to the RCF and RFI, introduced in April 2020 and extended in October 2020 and March 2021”, said the IMF.
The LND windows were introduced in 2017 to increase available emergency financing for member countries that are experiencing an urgent balance of payments need arising from large natural disasters where economic damage is equivalent to or exceeds 20 percent of a country’s GDP.
Under the RFI facility, Egypt secured a one-tranche 3.2 billion loan in May 2020 — during FY2019/2020 — to counter the severe impacts of the pandemic, especially the socio-economic implications.
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