Venezuela requests IMF financing to fight COVID-19

Under the supreme premise of strengthening the response capacity of the Venezuelan health system to contain COVID-19, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro officially requested $5 billion in financing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a letter to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, the Venezuelan president explains that these resources will significantly contribute to strengthening the detection and response systems against coronavirus in Venezuela. “At this crucial moment and aware of the aggressive and highly contagious levels of this disease, we will continue to take quick and strong measures to stop its spread,” wrote President Maduro in the letter shared by Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza on his Twitter account @jaarreaza. The Venezuelan president also expressed he is confident that in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the mutual support among the countries of the world, “we will be able to face and overcome this difficult situation, and we will see our future dreams come true thanks to our common work and fate.” On March 12, President Nicolás Maduro announced a set of measures to prevent coronavirus in the Latin American country, where no coronavirus cases had been confirmed. In the last days, and in the face of the first coronavirus cases, escalating decisions have been made until the Venezuelan government decreed on Tuesday, March 16, a nationwide collective quarantine. As of Tuesday morning, the Venezuelan government had confirmed 33 coronavirus cases in the country. Most of them came from Europe and Colombia.