$3.35 BILLION SPECIAL FUND FOR NIGERIA

NIGERIA TO GET $3.35 BILLION IMF SPECIAL FUNDING

■ Nigeria will receive $3.35 billion as its share of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) $650bn special drawing rights (SDRs) to help boost the liquidity of member countries.

According to IMF, SDR allocation is cost-free — does not add to any country’s public debt burden.

“The largest allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) in history—about US$650 billion—comes into effect today. The allocation is a significant shot in the arm for the world and, if used wisely, a unique opportunity to combat this unprecedented crisis,” the official IMF statement reads.

“The SDR allocation will provide additional liquidity to the global economic system – supplementing countries’ foreign exchange reserves and reducing their reliance on more expensive domestic or external debt. Countries can use the space provided by the SDR allocation to support their economies and step up their fight against the crisis.

“SDRs are being distributed to countries in proportion to their quota shares in the IMF. This means about $275 billion is going to emerging and developing countries, of which low-income countries will receive about US$21 billion – equivalent to as much as 6 percent of GDP in some cases.”

The statement said countries should ensure that decisions on the use of SDRs “should be prudent and well-informed”.

The new SDR allocation is the highest in the history of the IMF.

In June, Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), said G7 countries had also agreed to reallocate $100 billion in their IMF SDR to African states by October.●