Coronavirus forces IMF, World Bank switch to virtual Spring Meetings

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, citing growing concerns about the fast-spreading coronavirus, on Tuesday said they will adopt a “virtual format” for their Spring Meetings instead of convening in person in Washington.

The institutions’ Spring Meetings, scheduled this year for April 17-19, usually bring some 10,000 government officials, business people, civil society representatives and journalists from across the globe to a tightly packed, two-block area of downtown Washington that houses their headquarters.

The institutions began considering the move, first reported by Reuters last week, as the disease continued to spread rapidly around the world after emerging in China in late December.

There are now almost 91,000 cases globally, including 80,000 in China, and over 3,000 people have died. Infections have appeared in 77 countries and territories outside China, with Argentina the latest to report its first case.

The coronavirus outbreak is plunging the world economy into its worst downturn since the global financial crisis more than 10 years ago, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned on Monday.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President David Malpass said in a joint statement that their goal was to serve their membership effectively while ensuring the health and safety of participants and staff.

They said the institutions would leverage IT-related and virtual connection capabilities to hold essential policy consultations, while continuing to share IMF and World Bank analyses.

“With this adapted format, we are confident that our member countries will be able to effectively engage on pressing global economic issues at these Spring Meetings,” they said.

An IMF official said that one possible exception to the virtual meetings shift is that the 24-member International Monetary and Financial Committee – the Fund’s steering committee – may still meet face to face.

Details for the meeting are still being worked out, the official said. The equivalent panel at the World Bank, the Development Committee, is planning to meet in a virtual format, a World Bank spokesman said.

The rapid spread of the virus raised concerns inside the IMF and the World Bank that the close interactions among people from their 189 member countries at the Spring Meetings could inadvertently contribute to the problem.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, the IMF and World Bank canceled their annual meetings scheduled for later that month in the U.S. capital. The meetings were reconvened in November 2001 in Ottawa, Canada.

The by-laws of both institutions state that their annual meetings of boards of governors, normally held in the fall, must be held in person.