BANGKOK(NNT)- The Finance Ministry says Thailand has ample international reserves and doesn’t need to use assets allocated by the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as yet.
Allocations have been made to members of the IMF, including 10 countries in ASEAN. As for Thailand, 4.4 billion US dollars has been allocated, according to the Ministry of Finance.
Pisit Puapan, Executive Director of the Bureau of Macroeconomic Policy in the Fiscal Policy Office, an office of the Ministry of Finance, says that the assistance is being made available to IMF member countries during the pandemic. However, as stated by the Bank of Thailand, there’s no need for Thailand to use the allocation at this point, thanks to its high level of international reserves – around two hundred fifty billion USD. The funds offered by the IMF are equivalent to 2% of it.
According to the IMF, the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) provision, is an international reserve asset. The value is linked with 5 currencies, the US Dollar, the Euro, the Chinese Yuan, the British Pound and the Japanese Yen, which member countries can exchange for usable currency of its own. To access such funds, countries must pay interest designated by the IMF.
