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Additionally, US President Joe Biden met with exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Cichanouskaja at the White House in July. The United States, the IMF’s largest shareholder, extended sanctions against Belarus this week to mark the anniversary of last year’s presidential elections in Belarus.
The case of Belarus shows how some authoritarian regimes oppose the US plan to use 650 billion dollars. Plan for the allocation of special drawing rights (SDR) in USD. SDRs are allocated to Member States in proportion to their quotas.
“Getting the IMF’s support is like heaven for the Belarusian government,” said Dzmitry Kruk, principal investigator at the Minsk-based Center for Economic Research and Diffusion (BEROC), a Minsk-based group of scientists.
Lukashenko’s categorical claims that he won his sixth term last year with 80 percent. voters, prompted the EU and the US to speed up the introduction of sanctions. However, his government continues to receive general recognition from the members of the Foundation. In fact, this is the only prerequisite for any of the 190 IMF member countries to receive an injection of IMF funds approved in early August.
The United States supports the SDR allocation plan to strengthen measures to combat the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the country intends to continue working with its allies to address various pressure scenarios on the Lukashenko government, a spokesperson said. from the State Department in an email.
With regard to Belarus, “as usual, the IMF is guided by the international community, which continues to deal with the current government of the country,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice wrote in an electronic response to questions. “In light of recent events, we will continue to monitor the situation closely,” he said.
Some anti-democratic regimes criticized by the United States, such as Venezuela and Myanmar, will be excluded because their ruling governments have not garnered widespread recognition in the Fund.
Belarus has become more associated with countries such as China, Russia and Iran, whose central banks receive tens of billions of dollars in IMF funds, despite criticism from Biden and various sanctions.
Due to this dynamic of events, the injection of SDR is becoming something of a lightning rod for the critics of some Republican congressmen. Arkansas state spokesman French Hill called for opposition to such a plan, calling it a “cheap gift to rich states and separatist regimes.”
Proponents of the reserve allocation hoped it would help address the global need for long-term funds and allow countries to allocate resources to combat the pandemic. Belarus’s share of 650 billion. dollars is 0.14 percent, or $ 910 million. Dollars. The parties expect to receive a financial pillow on August 23.
Lukashenko’s opponents have campaigned in recent months to prevent the government from obtaining these funds, fearing that such support could help sustain his regime and free up resources for further repression.
Belarus’ neighbor Lithuania, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has accused Lukashenko of hybrid aggression against the EU, diverting cross-border flows of migrants, mainly from the Middle East.
Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for more than two decades, since 1994, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The country is increasingly pressured by the economic difficulties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and by political unrest.
During her visit to Washington in July, Sviatlana Cichanouskaya called on the United States to refrain from cooperating with the current Belarusian government, including through the IMF.
Members of the US House of Representatives, including Bill Keating, a Democrat from Massachusetts, sent a letter to the US envoy to the IMF board and to the Foundation administration demanding that the US work with other IMF members to set limits or conditions on Lukashenko’s spending.
But unlike in the case of Venezuela and Myanmar, there are no discussions among IMF members about the withdrawal of recognition of the Lukashenko regime, said a source familiar with the Foundation’s activities, who asked not to be named.
Rather, officials in Joe Biden’s administration are trying to prevent Belarus from using IMF funds by converting SDRs into the currency in use, a source reported on the Treasury Department’s plans. Earlier this year, Treasury Department officials said the United States would refrain from offering currency to sanctioned countries and would pressure its allies to take the same position.
Even if the US refuses to provide Belarus with a solid currency, the IMF still has 31 countries and institutions that have voluntarily concluded trade deals in exchange for SDR funds, including China.
In Belarus, the consequences of the pandemic and the threat of Western sanctions to the stability of the financial system are constantly increasing, Kruk said. The SDR allocation can help reduce risk, free up resources to manage potential risks, and give Belarus more flexibility in negotiating with Russia, a loyal ally that has become its lender of last resort.
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