The government of Namibia is negotiating $273 million in aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to finance its spending. The information was reported last week by finance ministry spokesperson Tonateni Shidhudhu (pictured). 

“We applied to the IMF last week. We will assess the terms and conditions to see if they are favorable to Namibia,” Tonateni Shidhudhu said. The resources will be made available for the government’s anti-Covid actions. Namibia has reported 1,917 cases of coronavirus, 8 deaths, and 104 recoveries, and the government fears that the economic challenges of the pandemic will outweigh the health crisis.  

As a reminder, the IMF has in recent weeks granted its support to countries that were off its financing list. On July 27, 2020, South Africa received for the first time in 26 years $4.3 billion in support from the IMF to address the negative effects of covid-19 on its economy. Earlier in April, Nigeria received $3.4 billion in aid to fight the pandemic.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou