UNITED NATIONS, May 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomes the decision of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday to allow members to re-channel their reserve assets to multilateral development banks (MDBs) through the purchase of hybrid capital instruments, his deputy spokesman said on Thursday.
"This is an important and innovative step toward expanding finance for sustainable development, in line with the secretary-general's proposed SDG Stimulus," said Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman, in a statement. "It could immediately unlock up to 80 billion U.S. dollars in desperately needed resources for developing countries, including to help tackle the climate crisis."
The secretary-general calls on countries in a position to do so to seize this opportunity to re-channel their reserve assets, or Special Drawing Rights, which can then be leveraged to increase lending to developing countries, said the statement. ■
