IMF’s Azour reviews fund’s regional crisis assistance, looks to post-coronavirus economies during JSF dialogue

AMMAN — The Jordan Strategies Forum, in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Wednesday held a virtual dialogue session titled "Economic developments post-coronavirus: Challenges and opportunities in the Middle East”.

During the session, Jihad Azour, IMF director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department, highlighted the fund’s efforts to assist the region to overcome the crisis through providing financial support, noting that Jordan has benefitted from an IMF programme designed to stimulate the economy and create jobs through a set of reforms, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

In addition to this programme, the IMF has provided additional support to Jordan in order to enhance its ability to confront the economic repercussions of the pandemic, he added.

Azour said that the region is passing through a transition phase as it gradually eases the strict measures taken to combat the virus, while the coming stage is “unclear” due to the difficulty of anticipating future developments in the global economy.

Regarding the fund’s cooperation with other countries in the region, Azour said that the IMF has moved at a “rapid pace” by offering financial support to countries that have needed it to weather the crisis.

The fund has offered some $100 billion to a group of countries, including Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Djibouti, Mauritania, Somalia and Lebanon, he said.

He added that the fund is also working to help countries by guiding them to optimal policies related to overcoming the crisis, adapting and recovering.