Special drawing rights proposed to provide debt relief for African countries
Lawrence Summers is calling for an extra $1-trillion in SDRs
21 April 2020 - 20:45
There has been much talk these past few weeks about debt relief. Whether it’s the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the AU (AU) task force or different governments, the call has been to provide African countries with the necessary firepower to deal with the dual health and economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
More specifically they have called for debt standstills (ie a pause of between one and two years in relation to interest and debt repayments) and also an increase in Special Drawing Rights. But what are SDRs and how do they work?..
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