IMF trim programs review delegation to Malawi over Coronavirus: Confirmed global pandemic by WHO
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has trimmed its team which is in the country for a review of its programs due to the ravaging coronavirus outbreak which has been labelled a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).
However, it is not yet known whether the trimming was as a result of some members contracting the disease or not.
Ministry of Finance spokesperson Davis Saddo confirmed that the IMF team which is in the country is trimmed and degraded.
“It is a compressed delegation, it is a technical delegation but they will do the normal review and we will engage them on the review,” said Saddo.
The IMF team is in the country to review budget performance, debt, revenues and expenditures.
Saddo said the government will be able to negotiate with the team although it is compressed.
The IMF team has powers to recommend suspension of donor aid.
A pandemic is a disease that is spreading in multiple countries around the world at the same time.
Up until now, WHO has talked merely of the “threat” or the “potential” for a pandemic. But with cases in more than 100 countries, and increasing numbers not linked to travel, the language has changed.
What the use of the word “pandemic” highlights is the importance of countries around the world taking urgent action to respond to their own outbreaks – because now it’s everyone’s responsibility to turn the tide on the virus..
