Spend what you can to fight Covid-19, IMF tells member states

Fund says countries are right to boost spending but should 'keep receipts' to ensure transparency

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The International Monetary Fund has said member states should spend whatever it takes to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and ignore the major damage that support packages will cause to already-fragile public finances.

But the Washington-based fund urged governments to keep close track of what they were spending and to make sure that multitrillion-dollar spending commitments did not cause permanent damage.