IMF [to 14 February 2015]
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IMF Establishes a Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust to Enhance Support for Eligible Low Income Countries Hit by Public Health Disasters
Press Release No. 15/53
February 13, 2015
The Ebola epidemic in parts of West Africa is a humanitarian catastrophe that has drawn attention of the international community to the need of addressing the rapid spread of life threatening infectious diseases that cause substantial domestic disruption and cross international borders.

On February 4, 2015, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) discussed how to better support Low-Income Countries hit by public health disasters. The Board approved the establishment of the Catastrophe Containment and Relief (CCR) Trust, allowing the Fund to provide debt relief in these cases, as well as to members experiencing other types of catastrophic disasters. These grants can ease pressures on the members’ balance of payments and create fiscal space to tackle relief and recovery challenges.

The CCR will provide grants for debt relief totaling $100 million for the three countries affected by Ebola in West Africa—Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. This comes in addition to the $130 million of assistance provided in September 2014, and a second round of new concessional loans amounting to about $160 million to be considered soon by the Executive Board.

Background
In their November 2014 meeting in Brisbane, the G-20 called on the Bretton Woods Institutions to continue their strong support to countries severely affected by the Ebola outbreak through a combination of concessional loans, debt relief and grants, and asked the institutions to explore new, flexible mechanisms to address the economic effects of future comparable crises. The CCR Trust is the Fund’s response to that call. It replaces the Post-Catastrophe Debt Relief (PCDR) Trust established on June 25, 2010 in the wake of a massive earthquake in Haiti, and expands the circumstances under which the Fund can provide exceptional assistance to its low income members to include public health disasters.

Through the new instrument, the Fund is able to quickly and flexibly adjust its policies in the face of unexpected international developments, including pandemics, to serve the needs of its membership, especially the most vulnerable.

At the conclusion of the Executive Board meeting on the CCR, IMF Managing Director Christine stated: “I welcome the establishment of the Catastrophe Containment Relief Trust. It aims at enhancing our support to the countries in Africa hit by Ebola, as well as other low income countries that may be affected by public health disasters in the future.”…