Lebanese Finance Minister Youssef El-Khalil announced, on Friday, that the International Monetary Fund transferred to the account of the Ministry of Finance at the Central Bank of Lebanon about $1.14 billion, special drawing rights.
Al-Khalil said, in a statement, “I was informed by the Central Bank that Lebanon’s dues from the Special Drawing Rights to the International Monetary Fund were transferred to the account of the Ministry of Finance with the Bank, with a value of one billion and 139 million and 437 thousand dollars.”
And last Monday, the Ministry of Finance said it would receive $1.135 billion from the International Monetary Fund on Thursday, at a time when the country is experiencing a scarcity of foreign exchange.
The amount transferred from the IMF represents Lebanon’s share for 2021, amounting to $860 million, and for the year 2009, which is $275 million, to be deposited in the account of the Ministry of Finance with the Central Bank.
The Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund agreed in early August to distribute $650 billion in the largest distribution of special drawing rights in the history of the Fund, in order to support the reserves of member countries in the face of the repercussions of the Corona pandemic.
The Special Drawing Right (SDR) is an international interest-bearing reserve asset created by the Fund in 1969, as a complement to other reserve assets of member countries.
Lebanon is suffering a sharp collapse in the local currency exchange rates, and a significant decline in the abundance of foreign money supply, due to which it has been unable to meet the country’s needs of imported basic commodities, especially fuel, medicine and flour.
