The United States is taking “all measures” to prevent Russia from benefiting from IMF-Treasury assets

IMF headquarters in Washington

By Andrea Shalal and David Lauder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is doing everything it can to prevent Russia from benefiting from its International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserves, a U.S. Treasury official said Friday. .

Russia received $ 17 billion in IMF assets known as Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) in a new budget last year, but to spend that amount, it needs to find a country that wants to exchange SDRs for base currencies in the form of interest. Enduring credit.

The official said the United States and its allies, which represent the majority of opposition parties available in the IMF’s SDR trade body, would not conduct such exchanges.

“The United States is committed to taking all possible steps to prevent Russia from benefiting from the IMF SDRs,” the Treasury official said anonymously.

“As a result of sanctions imposed by the United States and our allies, the Russian regime will face significant, insurmountable obstacles to the use of its SDRs.”

Although Russia’s central bank received key currencies such as dollars, euros, yen and pounds through the SDR exchange, these assets “did not move effectively” due to sanctions imposed by the United States and key partners following the Russian invasion of Russia. In the territory of Ukraine, the official added.

Republican lawmakers in the United States this week told Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that Russia should stop converting SDRs, warning that the provision undermines previous sanctions on Russia before invading Ukraine.

All IMF members received SDRs – dollar, euro, yen, pounds sterling and yuan-backed assets – in proportion to their share of the distribution aimed at helping poorer countries fight the Covit-19 epidemic.

U.S. lawmakers say Yellen and her U.S. allies must plan contingencies to prevent bailouts if economically weakened Russia is forced to return to the IMF for future loans.

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