Pakistan receives $1.39 bn loan from IMF to deal with coronavirus crisis

Cash-strapped Pakistan has received an emergency loan of $1.39 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to boost its foreign exchange reserves in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
The $1.39 billion loan is in addition to the $6 billion bailout package that Pakistan had signed with the IMF in July last year to stave off a balance of payment crisis. "SBP (State Bank of Pakistan) has received $1.39 billion under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) from the IMF," the central bank said in a tweet on Wednesday.
Pakistan in March had requested the global moneylender for a low-cost, fast-disbursing loan under its Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to deal with the adverse economic impact of the pandemic. The RFI is used to provide financial assistance to IMF member countries facing an urgent balance of payments need without requiring them to put a full-fledged programme in place.
According to a report in The Express Tribune, the loan will push Pakistan's foreign currency reserves apparently to a one-month high above $12 billion. The IMF executive board approved the low-cost emergency loan last week to help Pakistan meet the urgent balance of the international payment needs in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent IMF statement.
With the latest recovery of Rs 0.76 in the inter-bank market on Wednesday, the rupee has cumulatively regained Rs 7.53, or 4.5 per cent, in the past two weeks to a one-month high at Rs 160.36 to the US dollar, the SBP said in a statement.
Earlier, the foreign currency reserves had dropped to a four-month low at $10.97 billion on April 10, 2020, according to the central bank's weekly update on Thursday last week.
The reserves had partly depleted due to capital pullout worth around $2.69 billion by short-term foreign investors from Pakistan's debt market over the past five to six weeks. Many of them sold premature treasury bills and long-term Pakistan Investment Bonds in panic following the fast spread of the coronavirus across the world.

Foreign debt repayments also consumed the foreign currency reserves in the past four months.

Coronavirus pandemic: Africa gets much-need care package from Jack Ma

With the coronavirus increasing its spread across Africa, the continent received a much-needed care package from Chinese billionaire Jack Ma.
A cargo flight containing more than 6 million medical items arrived Sunday in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. The supplies from Ma, the founder of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, will be distributed to African countries in need of supplies to battle the spreading Covid-19 pandemic.
An Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight from Guangzhou, China arrived with 5.4 million face masks, 1.08 million testing kits, 40,000 sets of protective clothing and 60,000 protective face shields, according to Ethiopian officials and the Jack Ma Foundation.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last week pledged to distribute the supplies to other countries in Africa. Ma has sent similar shipments of medical supplies to countries in Asia, Europe, North America and Latin America.
The virus has been relatively slow to reach Africa but has now spread to at least 43 of the continent's 54 countries, with more than 1,100 cases confirmed. In response many African countries are imposing restrictions.
Mozambique confirmed its first case Sunday and cancelled all visas to the country, closed schools and banned gatherings of more than 50 people.
Kenya announced new restrictions Sunday, after it confirmed eight new cases, bringing its total to 15. It closed all bars and restaurants as of midnight Sunday and halted all services at churches and mosques, saying that houses of worship had not implemented safe social distancing. Kenya also suspended all international passenger flights effective Wednesday and closed the border posts to neighboring Uganda, except for the transport of cargo.
In Burkina Faso, the U.S. ambassador, Andrew Young, announced on his personal Twitter account Sunday that he has tested positive for the virus, He is in quarantine and local sources say he has not gone to a hospital.
Burkina Faso has 75 cases and four deaths as of Sunday, one of the highest number of deaths in sub-Saharan Africa.
Young is the first U.S. ambassador to say that he has tested positive for Covid-19 and the second ambassador in Burkina Faso to contract the virus, according to diplomats. Earlier this week Italian ambassador, Andrea Romussi, told AP he was positive, but was feeling fine. Burkina Faso's government has also been badly impacted by the virus with at least four Cabinet ministers confirmed as positive.

Coronavirus flight shutdowns have hit cargo capacity, says IATA

Current Affairs
The worldwide avionics affiliation has cautioned that movement limitations and flight scratch-offs forced due to the COVID-19 pandemic had "seriously restricted" freight limit expected to send prescriptions. The International Air Transport Association encouraged governments on Monday to keep air load streaming to prop up supply chains and transport clinical necessities during the dangerous new coronavirus episode.
"The emotional travel limitations and breakdown of traveler request have seriously restricted payload limit," said Geneva-based IATA. It included that other than conveying prescriptions and clinical gear, air payload was instrumental in moving nourishment and items purchased online that help isolate and social separating strategies.
"More than 185,000 traveler flights have been dropped since the finish of January because of government travel limitations," said IATA CEO Alexandre de Juniac.
"With this, fundamental load limit has vanished when it is most direly required in the battle against COVID-19." While vessel airplane have been prepared to make up the deficiency, governments "must take pressing measures to guarantee that essential stockpile lines stay open, proficient and successful", he said.
IATA approached governments to reject air payload from movement limitations, excluded freight group who don't cooperate with the general population from isolate prerequisites and expel stopping charges and space limitations to let loose air load activities.

"As we battle a worldwide wellbeing war against COVID-19, governments must make earnest move to encourage air payload. Keeping payload streaming will spare lives," Juniac said....Read More