IMF allocated 456.5 billion SDR funds to all member countries in order to survive the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Bank Indonesia's (BI's) International Department Chief Executive Director Doddy Zulverdi confirmed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had granted special drawing rights (SDR) to all member countries and not only to Indonesia.

"This is the IMF's policy to support resilience of not only Indonesia but also all countries globally to face the impact of COVID-19," Zulverdi stated during an online media briefing here on Wednesday.

According to Zulverdi, the SDR allocation by IMF was based on the rations owned by the respective countries and had been approved by all member countries.

Indonesia received an additional allocation of 4.46 billion SDRs or equivalent to US$6.31 billion from the IMF, while major countries, such as the United States and European countries, got greater allocations according to their own rations, Zulverdi added.

"Thus, this allocation was indeed granted by IMF to all member countries, and it was not Indonesia's private request," he remarked.

In addition, he noted that the SDR allocation was not debt but rather funds that can be used for foreign exchange reserves and there was no time limit for it to be returned, which means it is different from the IMF loans during 1998 crisis.

Zulverdi noted that the SDR provided in 2021 was the fourth time by IMF.

Zulverdi remarked that the first SDR allocation worth 9.3 billion SDR by IMF was granted during the 1970-1972 exchange rate crisis to its member countries. The figure is relatively small as the scale of the world economy was not too large, he expounded.

The second allocation worth 12.1 billion SDR was then offered in 1979-1981 and the third worth 161.2 billion SDR in 2009 to all member countries, he pointed out.

Finally, he stated that the IMF had allocated 456.5 billion SDR funds to all member countries in order to survive the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

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Translator: Agatha V, Kenzu T
Editor: Suharto
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