WIREDGOV

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak and US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen recently (15 March 2021) spoke on the phone to discuss a possible new allocation of Special Drawing Rights.

Both agreed that a new Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation could form an important part of a package of support for low income countries and could be vital for securing a truly global recovery.

The Chancellor has previously signalled that progress on a new allocation would be a priority for the UK’s G7 presidency. Sunak and Yellen discussed how to use Friday’s G7 meeting to work towards a possible agreement by the IMF Spring Meetings. Negotiations are ongoing.

Following his meeting with US Climate Envoy John Kerry last week (8 March 2021), the Chancellor reiterated the case for progress on climate and environmental issues in the G7, including on sustainability-related financial disclosures and impact reporting and climate finance to support the global transition to Net Zero.

Both looked forward to speaking again at Friday’s meeting of G7 Finance Ministers.

Further information

• The SDR is an international reserve asset issued by the IMF to member countries through periodic allocations. SDR allocations are a low-cost way of boosting international reserves and providing liquidity to vulnerable countries
• There have been four previous allocations of SDRs: in 1970-72; 1979-81; and two in 2009, to make a total of $293 billion allocated to date