Citibank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have launched a $800 million fund to support trade finance and trade flows in emerging markets. The money, which was announced last week, will help businesses in those markets that are struggling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Supporting the sustainability of the supply chains and stimulating the international trade flows have been a critical priority for us as we deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Ebru Pakcan, Global Head of Trade, Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions, in a statement. “Citi’s partnership with the IFC on this transaction will help enable the recovery of trade flows in the emerging markets while aiding in mitigating the extended disruption to the supply chains of many industries across the globe.”

The fund will support “commodities in countries where businesses face financing challenges and the disruption of cash flows due to the global outbreak of the virus.”

IFC is a member of the Washington, D.C.-based World Bank Group, which provides low-interest financing in developing countries with the goal of fighting poverty. IFC focuses on the private sector in emerging markets; according to the company, it invested more than $19 billion in private businesses and banks last year. It is sharing the risk of the $800 million fund evenly with Citi, which is based in New York and has $1.95 trillion in assets.

The fund extends IFC’s Global Trade Liquidity Program to $2 billion. The program has financed a total of $35 billion since its founding in 2009. $3.5 billion of the program has gone to the World Bank Group’s fund for the world’s poorest countries, while $13 billion has gone to low-income and lower middle-income countries.

Developing countries face the greatest challenges in recovering from the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, accroding to the World Economic Forum wrote in a recent Forbes post. “The world now finds itself in an uncharted territory — one where individual, country-level responses will only result in partial and short-term solutions to the pandemic’s global and complex challenges,” the post read. “This moment demands true solidarity and meaningful partnerships that generate action during and after the crisis — and that build more equitable, inclusive and sustainable economies and societies that are more resilient in the face of pandemics, climate change and other global challenges.”

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