Singapore, 30 December 2020… The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today that Singapore will renew its loan commitments to support multilateral efforts to strengthen the capacity of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These loan renewals will help boost the IMF’s resources to enable it to effectively play its role in safeguarding global economic and financial stability in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. The loan commitments to the IMF will be made under the following agreements:
(i) New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB)
(ii) Bilateral Borrowing Agreement (BA)
Singapore has been a contributor to the NAB since its inception in 1998, and a contributor to the BA since 2012.
3. Singapore’s loan commitments take the form of contingent loans to the IMF and are not made directly to countries borrowing from the IMF. The IMF will only draw upon the loan commitments if its other existing resources are significantly reduced. The loans will remain part of Singapore’s Official Foreign Reserves in the event that Singapore’s commitment is drawn upon.
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[1] The NAB is a set of multilateral credit arrangements between the IMF and 38 member countries/ institutions. The renewed NAB commitments from IMF members is expected to reach a total of USD521.5 billion (SDR364.7 billion).
[2] The currency of commitment is in SDR, with the amount SDR1.30 billion.
[3] The BAs are between the IMF and 40 countries. The renewed BA commitments from IMF members is expected to reach a total of USD188.8 billion (SDR132.0 billion).