Secretary-General Welcomes IMF Decision Allowing Rechannelling of Special Drawing Rights to Multilateral Development Banks through Hybrid Capital Instruments

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Secretary-General welcomes the 15 May decision by the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to allow its members to rechannel their special drawing rights (SDRs) to multilateral development banks through the purchase of hybrid capital instruments.

This is an important and innovative step towards expanding finance for sustainable development, in line with the Secretary-General’s proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Stimulus.  It could immediately unlock up to $80 billion in desperately needed resources for developing countries, including to help tackle the climate crisis.

The Secretary-General calls on countries in a position to do so to seize this opportunity to rechannel their SDRs, which can then be leveraged to increase lending to developing countries.