WATCH: IMFC held news conference amid coronavirus outbreak

The International Monetary and Financial Committee held a news conference April 16 with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and IMFC Chair Lesetja Kganyago amid the coronavirus outbreak. In its latest forecast the IMF said the global economy would suffer its worst year since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Watch the news conference in the player above.

The conference came after the IMF approved $500 million to cancel six months of debt payments for 25 of the world’s most impoverished countries so they can help tackle the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier in the week, Georgieva said the IMF executive board approved the immediate debt service relief for 19 African countries, Afghanistan, Haiti, Nepal, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan and Yemen. Georgieva said in a statement that the grants to the poorest and most vulnerable countries six months initially for six months “will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.