The Strategist

UN Secretary-General Guterres: G7 countries received eight times more IMF aid than Africa



05/22/2023 - 03:42



According to UN Secretary General António Guterres at the G7 conference, the International Monetary Fund has allotted $650 billion in special drawing rights, of which $34 billion went to Africa and $280 billion went to the G7 nations.



©Karwai Tang/ UK Government
©Karwai Tang/ UK Government
"During the pandemic, the IMF distributed $650 billion in special drawing rights, or SDRs, basically printing money out of thin air. G7 nations receiving $280 billion have a combined population of 772 million. At that, the African continent, with 1.3 billion people, received $34 billion," according to Mr. Guterres.

It was done in accordance with the rules, but as Guterres emphasized, "there is something fundamentally wrong with the rules themselves from a moral point of view." He stated, speaking to the G7 leaders, "rich countries cannot ignore the fact that more than half of the world - the vast majority of countries - are in deep financial crisis."

According to him, 52 nations are either in debt trouble, are about to enter debt crisis, or are dealing with extraordinarily expensive market borrowing. With very few exceptions, middle-income nations, particularly small island developing states, do not qualify for concessionary funding.

source: reuters.com