Lebanon gets IMF funding injection. How much will it help?
Al Jazeera
Lebanon was due to receive a fresh injection of IMF funding on Wednesday, but the new government has not yet said how they will use the money.
Beirut, Lebanon – Lebanon’s newly-formed government is expected to receive a desperately needed funding injection on Thursday, with a fresh $1.135bn allocation of the International Monetary Fund’s reserve asset known as Special Drawing Rights. But the windfall, though welcome, is a mere fraction of what the country needs to put its economy on some semblance of firmer footing.
SDRs are an asset that only exists within the IMF, but they can be exchanged for freely usable hard currencies like the US dollar – providing a much-needed liquidity boost for cash-strapped member states.
The government has not yet said how the SDR funds would be used, but the allocation comes at a moment of severe financial and political crisis that has driven more than 70 percent of Lebanon’s population into poverty.
