Staff of Reuters 3 minutes Read this article (Adds details) (Reuters) – VENICE, July 9 (Reuters) – According to the current version of their statement from a meeting in Venice, G20 finance ministers will encourage the International Monetary Fund to immediately come up with measures for countries to steer IMF resources that they don’t need to countries that do. The IMF’s executive board approved a $650 billion allocation of IMF Special Drawing Rights on Friday, bringing the release of currency reserves to the IMF’s 190 member countries closer to the end of August deadline. “We call on the IMF to immediately propose meaningful solutions for countries to voluntarily channel a share of their allocated SDRs to help vulnerable countries,” stated the G20 statement, which two sources said was anticipated to be presented without modifications at the ministers’ meeting in Venice. “We urge on all countries capable of doing so to contribute to an ambitious aim in assistance of vulnerable countries,” it stated. Some nations, particularly France and the United States, have advocated that an additional $100 billion in SDRs be made available to impoverished countries as part of the new allocation. As a result of the pandemic’s financial strains, the G20 governments agreed last year to halt debt servicing payments to 45 countries. In the first half of 2021, an anticipated $4.6 billion was postponed. With certain nations in need of even more debt relief, the G20 has also agreed on a single framework for debt restructuring, which Chad, Ethiopia, and Zambia have already requested assistance under. The ministers praised recent progress in Chad and urged all bilateral government and corporate creditors to offer the countries the same restructuring conditions as those to be negotiated under the common framework, according to the G20 statement. The ministers also stated that they were looking forward to dealing with Ethiopia’s case, which has made little progress to yet. The IMF recently advocated for the creation of a creditor committee as soon as possible to allow Ethiopia to receive debt relief. (Francesco Guarascio contributed reporting; Leigh Thomas wrote the story; Jason Neely and Kevin Liffey edited it.)/n
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