TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) – G7 advanced economies are still discussing a proposal to boost International Monetary Fund reserves for pandemic relief, several sources close to the discussion said on Wednesday, dismissing a report that a deal had been reached.
Earlier, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported they had secured agreement for increased reserves of around $650 billion through a new allocation of the fund’s special drawing rights ahead of a meeting of G7 finance leaders to be hosted by Britain on Friday.
“We are still continuing debates with the aim of agreeing on boosting SDR to help low-income countries… but we have not yet firmed up details as to the size of SDR boost and the timing of agreement,” said a government official with direct knowledge of the matter.
A G7 source said that Friday’s call would deal with the matter but that “work needs to be done”.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara in Tokyo; Christian Kraemer in Berlin; editing by Mark John and Toby Chopra)
