African countries can only receive “a priori” 33 billion dollars as “Special Drawing Rights”. But the participants at the Paris summit expressed the wish that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) release some 100 billion dollars for Africa, in the form of special drawing rights (SDRs). In an interview given on the sidelines of the meeting, Romuald Wadagni gives details on this request.

While the International Monetary Fund estimates that the emergency needs for Africa by 2025 amount to some 285 billion dollars, the Beninese minister thinks that ''hoping for 100 billion is not wishful thinking'' . According to him, the amount planned to be released under the Dts today is around 650 billion. To achieve this common objective for the countries of the franc zone, it is necessary that the rich countries which have these special drawing rights in priority renounce their quota and agree to reallocate them to African countries.
"It's not won at all, but for us, part of the battle has already been won, because remember, in April 2020, when President Patrice Talon asked to think about the allocation of new allowances in the form of Dts, Benin was the only one to do that. So, today, that there is unanimity around this proposal is already good news. And we are convinced that the other countries will follow the French proposal to move towards this allocation,” he explained.

In this interview, Romuald Wadagni also addressed the issue of the debt of poor countries and the extension of the moratorium on debt repayment until the end of the year. For him, debt issues for countries with special situations must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.