Devex quotes Eric LeCompte on Yellen's letter to G20. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full story.
In Brief: US Treasury indicates support for SDRs in letter to the G-20
By Adva Saldinger
The likelihood of a new issuance of International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights providing liquidity to low-income countries rose dramatically Thursday as the U.S. signaled its support.
In a letter to members of the G-20 group of nations, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that a new allocation of SDRs could facilitate “much-needed health and economic recovery efforts” for low-income countries and that the U.S. looks forward to “discussing potential modalities for deploying SDRs.”
With the U.S. on board, it seems likely the G-20 will support a new issuance of SDRs. During former President Donald Trump’s administration, U.S. objections were a key hurdle. There seems to be a consensus around an issuance of at least $500 billion, which the Italian presidency of the G-20 supports. But advocates have pushed for much more — $3 trillion — and G-20 leaders are likely to wait for an IMF needs assessment before making their decision, Eric LeCompte, executive director at the Jubilee USA Network, told Devex.
Read the full article here.