Washington, DC - As the International Monetary Fund, G20 and world leaders consider urgent actions to confront the economic impacts of the coronavirus, a development group says IMF money is available to prevent crisis and support healthcare.
"We believe the Fund should take additional, deeper actions to expand debt relief, aid to the poorest countries in the world as well as offer greater relief to the so-called Middle Income Countries," wrote Jubilee USA Executive Director Eric LeCompte in a letter to the head of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva. "This is possible if the fund were to access the $140 billion we believe to be held in the IMF's gold sales reserve. These monies should be utilized to expand debt relief for the 76 poorest countries and other developing countries."
In a review of the latest IMF financial statements and calculating the current market value of the Fund's gold reserves, Jubilee USA estimates $140 billion is available in a "rainy day" fund.
"We are bracing for what could be the worst economic storm in our lifetimes and the time to use IMF gold reserves is now," stated LeCompte a United Nations finance expert who monitored IMF policies for the last decade. "We've used these funds before for Haiti after it was devastated by an earthquake and to get emergency aid to countries hit with the Ebola epidemic. Now is the time to use these funds again."
On Monday a high-level Vatican official and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development called for a debt "Jubilee" for developing countries. Last week the IMF expanded debt relief facilities and encouraged the G20 to suspend debt payments for the 76 poorest countries.
Read United Nations' Agency and Vatican Calls for COVID-19 Debt Relief here
Read IMF Announcement on Coronavirus Debt Relief and Increased Lending Resources here
Read Analysis of G20 Emergency Meeting on Coronavirus Health and Economic Impacts here
Read IMF and World Bank Call for G20 to Halt Debt Collection for Poor Countries here
Read about Jubilee USA Urging Immediate IMF Covid-19 Action here
Read Jubilee USA's March 23rd Letter to IMF on COVID-19 here