Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2021 to Question 66248 on Overseas Aid, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the allocation and disbursement of the UK's Special Drawing Rights; and on whether the funding is in addition the £1 billion to the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust.

Under the UK’s G7 Presidency, the Government led G7 and other partners to commit to channelling Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to support vulnerable countries, with G7 leaders agreeing in June to a global ambition of $100bn to countries most in need.

At the IMF’s Annual Meetings, the Chancellor committed to channelling up to 4bn in SDR, starting with an additional loan of SDR 1bn to the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust which provides zero interest loans to low-income countries.

The UK is also supportive of the IMF’s proposed Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) which would redirect SDR towards supporting vulnerable countries in addressing long-term challenges such as climate change. The RST received G20 and International Monetary and Financial Committee support at the IMF Annual Meetings in October.