• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • News
    • Economic development

    IMF charts path to rechanneling SDRs through $50B trust

    IMF is pushing ahead with a new trust that will feature relaxed financing terms and expanded eligibility. The goal is to win board approval for the move at the Spring Meetings in April, though wealthy states will still need to step up support.

    By Shabtai Gold // 21 January 2022
    A boardroom at the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington. Photo by: Joshua Roberts / IMF / CC BY-NC-ND

    The International Monetary Fund is set to relax financing terms and expand access eligibility for a new $50 billion trust that will channel Special Drawing Rights, a type of reserve asset, from wealthy nations to more vulnerable states.

    Sign up for Devex Invested
    The must-read weekly newsletter that keeps you up to date with news about business, finance, and the SDGs.

    About three-quarters of IMF members may be able to tap funding in the form of loans from the Resilience and Sustainability Trust, wrote IMF economists Ceyla Pazarbasioglu and Uma Ramakrishnan in a blog post Thursday. This would include all low- and middle-income countries whose gross national incomes are below roughly $12,000 per capita.

    The goal is to win IMF board approval for the trust at the Spring Meetings in April. The G-20 group of nations has backed IMF’s plan so far.

    Financing terms: The RST proposal entails that loans coming from the trust have flexible financing terms.

    “Consistent with the longer-term nature of balance of payments risks the RST seeks to address, its loans would have much longer maturities than traditional IMF financing,” Pazarbasioglu and Ramakrishnan wrote. That includes a 20-year maturity on the payments and a 10-year grace period, as well as concessional interest rates for low-income countries.

    The trust could also support programs related to climate change, given the threat it poses to macroeconomic stability.

    Using the SDRs: Last year, IMF issued $650 billion in SDRs as part of its response to the COVID-19 crisis. Because the assets are allocated based on IMF share quota, wealthy nations took the greatest portion, while the lowest-income countries got only a fraction. The question hanging over the issuance was how to move the SDRs to those in need.

    IMF said that for the trust to work, borrowing states must enact reforms “conducive to improving balance of payments stability.” However, the RST will also depend on wealthy states providing “meaningful resources” for the plan.

    • Banking & Finance
    • Economic Development
    • Funding
    • IMF
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

    About the author

    • Shabtai Gold

      Shabtai Gold

      Shabtai Gold is a Senior Reporter based in Washington. He covers multilateral development banks, with a focus on the World Bank, along with trends in development finance. Prior to Devex, he worked for the German Press Agency, dpa, for more than a decade, with stints in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, before relocating to Washington to cover politics and business.

    Search for articles

    Related Stories

    Development FinanceAfrican nations demand debt relief, increased aid and financial reform

    African nations demand debt relief, increased aid and financial reform

    Sustainable Development GoalsExclusive: US seeks to gut UN development goals

    Exclusive: US seeks to gut UN development goals

    Most Read

    • 1
      How to use law to strengthen public health advocacy
    • 2
      Lasting nutrition and food security needs new funding — and new systems
    • 3
      The power of diagnostics to improve mental health
    • 4
      Supporting community-driven solutions to address breast cancer
    • 5
      Opinion: Urgent action is needed to close the mobile gender gap
    • News
    • Jobs
    • Funding
    • Talent
    • Events

    Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

    A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

    • About us
    • Membership
    • Newsletters
    • Advertising partnerships
    • Devex Talent Solutions
    • Post a job
    • Careers at Devex
    • Contact us
    © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement