THE International Monetary Fund's (IMF) steering committee on Thursday authorised the USD 650 billion Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation that will provide a liquidity boost to vulnerable economies in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a show of strong and enhanced commitment to multilateral cooperation, the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) members agreed to expand the lending institution's resources to do "whatever it takes" to end the pandemic and secure a "strong, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable" recovery, said Ms Magdalena Andersson, Chair of the IMFC.

For the most vulnerable countries, the IMFC called on the IMF to make a comprehensive proposal of a new USD 650 billion allocation of SDR while enhancing both transparency and accountability in reporting the use of these SDRs. It also asked the IMF to continue in parallel to explore ways for the voluntary post allocations of SDRs from members who do not need them to other members who need support in their recovery efforts.

"Overall, the message today from the IMFC is that all vulnerable countries exposed in the pandemic and its economic fallout deserve particular attention," she added.

IMF Managing Director Ms Kristalina Georgieva said the USD 650 billion increase in reserves would provide a substantial liquidity boost to fiscally-strained poor countries.

"A number of members in the discussion called it historic, and it is. This is the largest boost of reserves that our membership is giving us a mandate to follow on," she said.

The IMF chief added that middle-income countries have also expressed strong support for the SDR as they may be under a high levels of debt and severely impacted socially. "What we all agreed is that the SDR are a very important support element for all members, including middle - income countries and low - income countries," she said.