Zimbabwe Receives U.S.$1bn IMF allocation of Special Drawing Rights

Zimbabwe is set to get an injection of around US$1 billion, its allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today, with part of the money earmarked for health, manufacturing, agriculture, education and mining.

IMF member countries started getting their shares of the new special issue SDRs totalling about US$650 billion yesterday.

The IMF has made the new issue of paper gold to help the global economy cope with the major setback caused by Covid-19 and the need to rebuild reserves.

The issue is distributed according to each country’s shareholding in the IMF.

SDRs are not a currency, but an international reserve asset created by the IMF to supplement official reserves of member countries.

They can provide countries with liquidity, and with Zimbabwe’s economic growth expected to hit about 7,8 percent this year, the SDR allocation is expected to play a critical role.