WASHINGTON, July 21 (UPI) -- The International Monetary Fund said in Washington it plans to allocate $250 billion to provide liquidity to the global economic system.
The allocation, announced Monday, is designed to supplement the foreign exchange reserves of the fund's 186 member countries to fight the world economic slowdown, the agency said in a news release. The allocation will be in form of Special Drawing Rights, which are IMF reserve assets.
Of the total allocation, about $100 billion will go to emerging markets and developing countries, with the low-income countries getting over $18 billion," the organization said.
Each member country's SDR quota is determined broadly on its size relative to the global economy.
The allocation is expected to be available at the end of August after approval by the IMF board of governors.
"The SDR allocation is a key part of the Fund's response to the global crisis, offering significant support to its members in these difficult times," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.
The allocation is part of the $1.1 trillion plan announced in April at the London summit of the Group of Twenty industrialized and emerging market countries.
While noting the global economy is beginning to come out of the unprecedented post-World War II recession, the IMF warned the recovery is uneven and is expected to be sluggish.
It said economic growth during 2009-10 is projected to be about .05 percent higher than the April projection, reaching 2.5 percent in 2010.
