IMF Drawing Rights Allocation Discriminates Against Venezuela

On Thursday, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez accused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of discriminating against Venezuela during the allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).

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"Venezuela will continue to denounce that we are victims of discrimination... Our people are being denied the US$5 billion assigned to our country," Rodriguez said during the 7th Forum of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

She explained that the IMF refuses to provide financial assistance to Venezuela due to the "veto of the U.S. government" and recalled that the Bolivarian nation is being harassed by over 450 unilateral coercive measures.

On August 2, the IMF Governors Board approved a SDR allocation equivalent to US$650 billion so that its member countries can use them to increase their liquidity and counteract the effects of the pandemic on their economies. The distribution of these resources, however, has been highly asymmetric.

"Over 63 percent of the SDRs were allocated to rich countries," the Venezuelan vice president pointed out and recalled that private investment flows are also skewed towards certain economies, which further increases the imbalances between nations.

In the American continent, for example, 63 percent of IMF resources are concentrated in the United States, a country that prevents Venezuela from accessing vaccines, drugs, and SDRs," Rodrigues said and asked UNCTAD to work in favor of balancing international financing flows.

"Investment in the world has not guaranteed or favored sustainable development. In different areas, we see imbalances. It has served to increase the concentration of capital," she explained.

On Oct. 6, Rodriguez also denounced to the international community that the U.S. blockade caused a 99 percent reduction in Venezuela’s national income, which has had an effect on all its domestic economic activities.