Dear Europe: Help the World’s Poorest Recover From COVID-19

Media www.rajawalisiber.com – I am writing to you today to ask you to reallocate SDRs to low-income countries for a fair recovery for all. COVID-19 has triggered the deepest economic recession in nearly a century, wiping out decades of progress and risking the long-term scarring of economies. European countries are fortunate enough to see economies begin to reopen as vaccine coverage increases. But many populations around the world continue to live under the shadow of deaths and hospitalizations, and the knock-on impacts of the pandemic have been huge, with an extra 160 million people at risk of being pushed into extreme poverty. International financial support in the form of IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) is essential to getting the world back on track. As majority IMF shareholders, high income nations, including European countries, are set to receive 68% of new SDRs whilst the whole African continent would receive about 5%. For a fair and equitable recovery, European states must urgently commit to reallocate at least 50% of their SDRs to lower income countries. I hope European leaders will show true global leadership and step up with reallocation commitments now, not later for the world to recover together. Will you commit to reallocate at least USD $15B SDRs to low-income countries?