IMF: the billion that gives Lebanon a brief respite

In Beirut

Lebanon has just received $ 1.135 billion in exchange for Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

This is a windfall for a country which is going through a crisis of unprecedented gravity, classified by the World Bank among the three most severe in the world since the middle of the 19th century, excluding war or natural disaster.

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The largest share of these SDRs corresponds to that allocated to the country of the Cedar within the framework of a global allocation of 650 billion dollars decided by the IMF to fight against the effects of the Covid.

The function of the SDR is to strengthen the balance sheets of central banks and, when necessary, to provide governments with liquidity in foreign currency.

This new money is all the more welcome for the Lebanese authorities as it is, because of its automaticity, not subject to any conditionality.

The injection of liquidity is essential to restart the Lebanese economy, whose GDP fell by around 40% between 2018

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