Bloomberg – By Eric Martin
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank postponed their annual meetings scheduled for next October in Morocco by a year until 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The announcement came Thursday in emailed statements from both institutions. They traditionally hold their annual meetings in Washington two out of every three years, with the third year in another location; last month’s sessions were held virtually.
The gatherings typically draw thousands of delegates, observers and journalists from more than 180 member countries. The last in-person meetings to be held outside Washington were in Bali, Indonesia, in October 2018.
The IMF has made $100 billion available for emergency lending to countries due to the global pandemic, and has made loans to including more than two dozen African nations. The World Bank plans $160 billion in assistance during a period of 15 months. The virus has claimed more than 1.2 million lives globally, including almost 4,000 in Morocco. New daily cases in the North African nation soared to a single-day record this week.
With most meetings and conferences in 2020 canceled or moved to a virtual format, international organizations are starting to make adjustments to events next year. The World Economic Forum announced last month that its 2021 annual meeting will be moved to Lucerne-Buergenstock, Switzerland, in May after organizers postponed the usual January gathering in the ski resort of Davos.(Updates with details on IMF lending in fourth paragraph.)
