African finance ministers have urged rich countries to reallocate at least 30 billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund money toward investments in Africa.
They said that this would help African countries battling the effects of coronavirus and climate change in an open letter to the leaders of the Group of 20 leading economies.
The ministers of finance from Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cote D’Ivoire and Nigeria wrote the letter.
They also urged the rich nations to increase support for poorer countries’ COVID vaccination drive.
The IMF has taken steps to implement a new 650 billion dollar allocation, the largest ever of its reserve currency, so-called Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).
The process is expected to be completed in August.
The ministers wrote in the letter published on Friday that “the IMF’s promised new issue of Special Drawing Rights available as soon as possible and define a clear path forward for their maximal re-allocation and on-lending.
“The urgency now is to accelerate the disbursement of these SDRs to forestall the current emerging market liquidity crisis devolving into an insolvency crisis.’’
The economic fallout from the pandemic has exacerbated existing strains on a number of African sovereigns, with Zambia, Chad and Ethiopia all seeking overhauls of their debt burdens. (Reuters/NAN)
