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SARAJEVO — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday it may extend a 165 million euros ($181 million) loan to Bosnia to soften the blow to its healthcare and economy from the spread of coronavirus.

“The IMF is exploring the possibility of providing emergency assistance to Bosnia under a Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI),” the IMF Resident Representative in Bosnia, Andrew Jewell, told Reuters.

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The RFI is part of the $50 billion in resources the Washington-based global lender has said it would offer to help poor and middle-income countries with weak health systems respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

Jewell said that under the RFI, the maximum amount of financing available now would be 50% of Bosnia’s quota or around 165 million euros, and that the financing would not be subject to ex-post conditionality or periodic reviews.

In 2016 the IMF approved a three-year, 553-million-euro aid program to Bosnia, which was repeatedly withheld over the authorities’ failure to pursue agreed reforms before being extended for a year, and it will expire in September.