SINGAPORE, Dec 30 — Singapore will renew its loan commitments to support multilateral efforts to strengthen the capacity of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today.

These loan renewals will help boost the IMF’s resources to enable it to effectively play its role in safeguarding global economic and financial stability in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the central bank said in a statement.

The loan commitments to the IMF will be made under New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) with a US$1.86 billion (RM7.53 billion) loan for the 2021-2025 period; and Bilateral Borrowing Agreement (BA) with a US$1.72 billion loan for the 2021- 2024 period.

According to MAS, Singapore has been a contributor to the NAB since its inception in 1998, and a contributor to the BA since 2012.

Singapore’s loan commitments take the form of contingent loans to the IMF, and are not made directly to countries borrowing from the IMF, it said.

"The IMF will only draw upon the loan commitments if its other existing resources are significantly reduced. The loans will remain part of Singapore’s Official Foreign Reserves in the event that Singapore’s commitment is drawn upon,” added MAS.

According to the statement, the renewed NAB and BA commitments from IMF members are expected to reach a total of US$521.5 billion and US$188.8 billion, respectively.

The NAB is a set of multilateral credit arrangements between the IMF and 38 member countries/ institutions, while the BA is between the IMF and 40 countries, it said. — Bernama