South Africa’s finance minister said on Friday more than $4 billion was available from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank for the country to help it fight COVID-19, playing down worries that the money would come with onerous conditions.
Africa’s most industrialised economy has approached international financial institutions to contribute to a 500 billion rand ($26.4 billion) rescue package aimed at cushioning the blow from the new coronavirus on businesses and poor households.
The approach comes despite deep suspicion in some governing party circles and within the influential trade union movement because of the conditions the IMF and World Bank might impose.
The minister, Tito Mboweni, said those opposed to the government borrowing from the IMF and World Bank were making “a mountain out of an anthill”. An IMF official told Reuters last week that the emergency funds on offer came with no requirement for a structural adjustment programme.
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