The International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides USD 4.3 billion of emergency loans to South Africa to help the country combat the corona crisis. It is the IMF’s biggest emergency package to a country because of the virus outbreak so far and should help South Africa to counter the harmful economic effects of the pandemic.

South Africa has more than 445,000 confirmed coronavirus infections and nearly 7,000 deaths due to the disease. This makes South Africa the most affected country on the African continent by corona. The South African economy is expected to shrink sharply this year due to the lock-down measures, although the country was in recession even before the crisis. In april, the government of South Africa announced a comprehensive support package to deal with the crisis.