The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that the funds approved last week under its rapid financing instrument (RFI) serves mainly as a contingency funding mechanism which is to be used by the country in cushioning the economic fallouts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last Friday the IMF’s executive board approved a request to give emergency financing assistance to the country totalling US$520 million or 100 per cent of quota.

Speaking in a press conference on Monday, Manuela Goretti, IMF’s mission chief for Jamaica, said that given that there are no immediate fiscal needs to be met, and with the supplementary budget already financed — the RFI really represents a contingency fund.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-observer-corporate-listing/the-rfi-is-for-contingency-funding-imf-imf-says-us-520-million-disbursement-is-mainly-to-strengthen-reserves_194455