A man uses an ATM at a Bank Audi branch, after banks closed on Tuesday in solidarity with the Lebanese Swiss Bank, in Beirut, Lebanon June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
BEIRUT: Lebanon said on Wednesday it could have access to $900 million should the International Monetary Fund's proposed $650 billion expansion of its emergency reserves go through.
The new allocation of the IMF's reserve currency, or Special Drawing Rights, was discussed on Friday and the IMF's executive board is expected to consider the matter around mid-July.
If the board approves the expansion, it will go to the board of governors for a vote, with an eye to having the allocation of new SDRs take effect in late August.
"Lebanon's share is expected to be $900 million that it can make use of after approval," a statement by the finance ministry said.
Lebanon is in the throes of a deep financial crisis that is threatening its stability.
Shortages of essential goods such as medicine and fuel are worsening as reserves dry up, threatening the funding of a subsidy programme that costs around $6 billion a year.
Substantial international assistance has been made conditional on reforms that Lebanon's politicians have so far been unable to agree on. (Reporting By Maha El Dahan and Laila Bassam; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
