AKIPRESS.COM - Mongolia has received $99 million of financing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Xinhua reports citing Finance Minister Chimed Khurelbaatar Monday.

"Today, our country received a 99-million-U.S.-dollar financing from the IMF. I would like to thank the IMF for always helping our country in difficult times," Khurelbaatar said in a statement.

The IMF's emergency financing is expected to address the urgent balance-of-payments and fiscal needs in Mongolia.

As of Monday, Mongolia confirmed a total of 194 COVID-19 infections, including five foreigners. All the confirmed cases were imported, mostly from Russia.

Thanks to the early introduction of social distancing and tight health protocols for cross-border flows, no local transmissions or deaths have been reported in Mongolia so far.