The International Monetary Fund is still assessing Iran’s request for $5 billion in emergency financing, a senior IMF official said. “We have received a request for assistance, and since we

have had limited engagement with Iran in recent times, the process of obtaining the information we require to assess the request is taking time,” Jihad Azour, director of the IMF’s Middle

East and Central Asia Department, told Reuters on Wednesday. “Any member of the fund has the same rights of access to the IMF financing and resources subject to the fund’s rules and approval

by the director board,” he added. Iran has asked the IMF for a $5 billion loan to deal with the outbreak of COVID-19. Last week, President Hassan Rouhani said it would be unacceptable for