The executive board of the International Monetary Fund has approved the Washington-based lender’s administrative and capital budgets for the 2022 financial year.
The administrative budget for the financial year that began on May 1 was set at $1.21 billion while the capital budget for the year is $79 million, the fund said on Thursday.
The budget “is set in the context of a global economic outlook that is marked by high uncertainty and the likelihood of uneven recovery, with many countries facing daunting crisis legacies”, the fund said.
The Covid-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown measures tipped the world economy into its worst recession since the 1930s.
The economic slowdown was especially harsh on the poor and may have pushed about 100 million people into extreme poverty last year, according to the UN.
Poverty in some regions could rise to 30-year highs, the UN warned.
The fund said many countries may not return to growth levels recorded before Covid-19 for several years, with those that lack the means to mitigate the impact hit the hardest.
“With the pandemic still present in most countries and mutations of the virus emerging, uncertainty remains exceptionally high. Faced with a likely uneven recovery, the IMF will continue to focus on supporting members’ efforts to confront the impact of the Covid-19 crisis,” it said.
The capital budget provides capital for infrastructure and information technology projects, including the modernisation of digital platforms and tools, according to the lender.
“Financial support is expected to rise and programmes to become more complicated as many emergency financing operations are followed with upper credit tranche, or UCT, conditionality programmes, in many cases characterised by complex debt issues,” it said.
As of March, 12 UCT arrangements had been approved, with another 38 members expressing interest in new UCT programmes. Fifteen countries are also seeking emergency financing and their requests will come up for approval in the current financial year.
The IMF's executive board also took note of indicative budgets for the 2023 and 2024 financial years.
The administrative budget for 2023 is expected to be $1.24bn while that for 2024 has been set at $1.26bn.
The capital budgets for 2023 and 2024 will be $92.4m and $87.9m respectively, the IMF said.
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Genesis G80 2020 5.0-litre Royal Specs
Engine: 5-litre V8
Gearbox: eight-speed automatic
Power: 420hp
Torque: 505Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.4L/100km
Price: Dh260,500
The%20trailblazers
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Empty Words
By Mario Levrero
(Coffee House Press)
Winners
Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)
Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)
Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona / Spain)
Best Young Women’s Player
Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)
Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)
Best Women’s Goalkeeper
Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)
Men’s Coach of the Year
Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)
Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)
RESULTS
Light Flyweight (48kg): Alua Balkibekova (KAZ) beat Gulasal Sultonalieva (UZB) by points 4-1.
Flyweight (51kg): Nazym Kyzaibay (KAZ) beat Mary Kom (IND) 3-2.
Bantamweight (54kg): Dina Zholaman (KAZ) beat Sitora Shogdarova (UZB) 3-2.
Featherweight (57kg): Sitora Turdibekova (UZB) beat Vladislava Kukhta (KAZ) 5-0.
Lightweight (60kg): Rimma Volossenko (KAZ) beat Huswatun Hasanah (INA) KO round-1.
Light Welterweight (64kg): Milana Safronova (KAZ) beat Lalbuatsaihi (IND) 3-2.
Welterweight (69kg): Valentina Khalzova (KAZ) beat Navbakhor Khamidova (UZB) 5-0
Middleweight (75kg): Pooja Rani (IND) beat Mavluda Movlonova (UZB) 5-0.
Light Heavyweight (81kg): Farida Sholtay (KAZ) beat Ruzmetova Sokhiba (UZB) 5-0.
Heavyweight (81 kg): Lazzat Kungeibayeva (KAZ) beat Anupama (IND) 3-2.
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Brief scores:
England: 290 & 346
Sri Lanka: 336 & 243
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh1,100,000 (est)
Engine 5.2-litre V10
Gearbox seven-speed dual clutch
Power 630bhp @ 8,000rpm
Torque 600Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 15.7L / 100km (est)
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The figures behind the event
1) More than 300 in-house cleaning crew
2) 165 staff assigned to sanitise public areas throughout the show
3) 1,000 social distancing stickers
4) 809 hand sanitiser dispensers placed throughout the venue
