(Rome) Canada will donate to developing countries 20% of its Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to face the crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic, the minister announced on Saturday in Rome. of Finance Chrystia Freeland.
” The Prime Minister [Justin Trudeau] announced today that we will donate 20% of Canada’s SDRs to the Fund for Poverty Reduction and Growth “created by the IMF to help developing countries revive their economies, the minister said at the meeting. a press point on the sidelines of the G20.
The G20 finance ministers approved at their last meeting in Washington in mid-October the IMF initiative to increase aid to the most vulnerable countries, in the form of a new issue of special drawing rights (SDR) in the amount of $ 650 billion.
However, these SDRs are distributed according to the quotas of each country in the IMF: the largest goes to the richest countries. On paper, Africa would only benefit from $ 34 billion.
Suddenly, the G7 countries have promised to return 143 billion SDRs to developing countries, but the G20 finance ministers have still not specified the amount that would be redistributed to them.
France is committed to “redirecting 20% of the money it receives from the IMF to the African continent,” President Emmanuel Macron announced in September.
“If all the great powers do like France, then we will achieve” the objective of donating 100 billion dollars to Africa, he added.