The facility has historically been used to provide fast concessional financial assistance to low-income countries, facing an urgent balance of payments needs. The RCF is one of the facilities under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) which the IMF uses to provide flexible financial support tailored to the diverse needs of countries in crisis.

Last August, Mali declared a state of national disaster following deadly floods that 30 people dead and over 47 000 others displaced. The floods came as a result of inclement weather conditions faced annually by the West and Central Africa regions around, but this time, floods of varying severity between June and September, swept through the Sahel belt of countries and along the southern fringes of the Sahara desert.

---Reuters---