DAKAR, Sept 16 — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved US$67 million (RM278 million) emergency support for Equatorial Guinea to help it deal with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and an explosion at a military base that destroyed much of its mainland city of Bata in March.

The IMF said in a statement today that the financial support requested by the oil-dependent Central African state would help it mitigate the fallout from both shocks.

"The Bata explosions and still unfolding Covid-19 pandemic have inflicted heavy human and economic damage on Equatorial Guinea,” the IMF said.

The explosions at a depot in a military barracks in Bata killed 105 people. — Reuters