| IMF to allocate $250 bln to increase global economy’s liquidity | |
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has backed an allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) equivalent to US$250 billion to provide liquidity to the global economic system. The money will be supplemented to the Fund’s 186 member countries’ foreign exchange reserves, the IMF said in a statement. An SDR is an interest-bearing IMF asset that is based on a basket of international currencies – the dollar, yen, euro and pound – that is calculated daily and which members can convert into other currencies.
The equivalent of nearly $100 billion of the new allocation will go to emerging markets and developing countries, of which low-income countries will receive over $18 billion.
Under the proposal, Vietnam would receive an allocation of $380 million. The proposal will now be submitted to the IMF’s Board of Governors for final approval, in a vote scheduled to close on August 7. If approved, the allocation will take effect on August 28, 2009.
“The SDR allocation is a key part of the Fund’s response to the global crisis, offering significant support to its members in these difficult times,” IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.
The SDR allocation was requested as part of a $1.1 trillion plan agreed at the G-20 summit in London in April and endorsed by the International Monetary and Financial Committee to tackle the global financial and economic crisis. | |
| Thanh Nien News |
