Namibia has approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a 4.5 billion Namibian dollars (273 million U.S. dollars) emergency loan to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the Finance Ministry confirmed on Wednesday.
According to the Finance Ministry spokesperson Tonateni Shidhudhu, Namibia submitted the application to the IMF through the Rapid Financing Instrument to address the impact of COVID-19 last week.
“We submitted an application to the IMF last week. We will assess the terms and conditions to see if they are favourable to Namibia. We hope we get what we asked for,” Shidhudhu said.
The recent surge in novel coronavirus cases in Namibia has forced the country to for the first time since joining in 1990 turn to the IMF for assistance.
Namibia has so far recorded 1,986 coronavirus cases and 9 deaths.
