IMF approves Colombia's request to increase credit line by $6.2 Billion

The International Monetary Fund said in a statement on September 25 that it has approved Colombia's request to raise its credit line by $6.2 billion. The step was taken after Colombia's continued qualification with strong institutional policy frameworks, track record of economic performance and policy implementation. The IMF also took steps to curb the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. 

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IMF provides funds to Colombia

The statement said, “The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved today a request by the Colombian authorities to increase access under its current Flexible Credit Line (FCL) arrangement to SDR 12.267 billion (about USD 17.2 billion), equivalent to 600 percent of quota. This represents an SDR 4.4174 billion increase (about USD 6.2 billion) in relation to the two-year arrangement that was approved on May 1, 2020”. 

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Talking about coronavirus, Antoinette Sayeh, a Liberian economist and Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, said that Colombia has taken some very strong measures which will help the country to come to a very timely response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a tally by John Hopkins University, Colombia has recorded a total number of 798,317 cases with 25,103 fatalities. She said, “The authorities' early response and continuing actions - including the temporary suspension of the fiscal rule to raise health spending, as well as to assist vulnerable households and businesses - are welcome and supporting the economy through the recession”. She added that financial support from the IMF will help Colombia in dealing with the external crisis and also increase the migrants from Venezuela. 

In the last national election in Venezuela, the results were contested which led to both Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido declaring themselves as President of Venezuela. The move was followed by political turmoil in the country forcing thousands of people to flee from Venezuela. Currently, more than 1.7 million Venezuelans reside in Colombia. Venezuela also contains one of the largest reserves of oil in the world making the country extremely strategically important.

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(Image Credits: AP)