Latin America's eight largest economies in coming weeks will receive about $17.3 billion from the International Monetary Fund, as the multilateral agency seeks to boost global reserves.
Governments across the region are at different stages of deciding what to do with the windfall which, although it's been on the radar for many months, has only just been formally approved by the IMF board of directors.
The payments, to be made on Aug. 28 and Sept. 9, will be issued by the IMF as Special Drawing Rights, which essentially amount to the organization's own currency, in amounts corresponding to each country's quota in the IMF. SDRs are always handled by central banks, and are often stored as part of their foreign exchange reserves, but can be exchanged for hard cash.
"Some members may choose to sell part or all of their allocations to other members in exchange for hard currency," the IMF said Thursday in a statement. "Other members may choose to buy more SDRs as a means of reallocating their reserves." READ FULL STORY
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