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Zimbabwe has drawdown US$857 million in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to a schedule released by the Treasury.
The money was part of the US$650 billion the IMF distributed to its members to provide additional liquidity for the global economy, supplementing member countries’ foreign exchange reserves and reducing their reliance on more expensive debt.
SDRs are reserve assets issued by the IMF, backed by dollars, euros, yen, sterling, and yuan.
In total, Zimbabwe received the equivalent of US$961 million.
“Zimbabwe has in 2021, 2022 and 2023, Government under the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) utilisation plan, made six drawdowns, amounting to US$857 million, the Treasury said.
The first drawdown was made on September 21, 2021, while the last was in February this year.
The funds were used to support, social sectors, infrastructure, agriculture, industry and gold production.
On August 23, 2021 the IMF undertook a general allocation of SDR 456 billion to all its 190 members. These SDRs had a monetary value of US$650 billion.
The SDRs is an international reserve asset that was created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement the reserve assets of its members.
It is an artificial currency in which IMF members can exchange freely for a basket of real international currencies which comprise the US dollar, the British pound, the euro, the Japanese yen, and China’s renminbi. SDR exchange rate is set daily by the IMF. -Business Weekly
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