The International Monetary Fund approved on April 14 the disbursement of SDR84.28 million, the equivalent of $115.3 million to help Burkina Faso curtail the impact of covid-19 on the economy.

The sum is part of the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) put in place by the IMF to assist countries to meet their balance of payment needs; improve health, social protection, and macroeconomic stabilization measures. IMF hopes this mechanism will encourage other development partners to grant their support to vulnerable countries.

Burkina Faso has already exceeded 500 cases of coronavirus and the country’s short term economic perspectives are deteriorating, thus exacerbating the already gloomy picture marked by security crisis in the Sahel and the growing number of internally displaced persons.

According to IMF, the country’s economy will further shrink to 2% of GDP in 2020, against 6.0% in 2019 and 6.8% in 2018. Mitsuhiro Furusawa (pictured), IMF Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, said: “Additional external support, preferably in the form of grants, is urgently required to meet Burkina Faso’s elevated financing needs, ease the financial burden of the pandemic and preserve recent macroeconomic stability and development gains.”

André Chadrak