WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund confirmed on Thursday that South Africa has requested emergency financing assistance and its executive board will consider the request on Monday, which would bring to 72 the number of countries receiving IMF aid to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

“They’ve requested this assistance to help them address urgent balance of payments needs arising from this external shock that the pandemic has given to so many countries,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told a regular news briefing. “As always, our board will make the decision on the approval and on the amount.”