G20 countries fell short of their USD 100 bn pandemic aid pledge to developing countries: The world’s most advanced economies agreed last week to provide a combined USD 60 bn to developing countries struggling under the financial fallout of the pandemic, marking a significant reduction from their original USD 100 bn pledge, the Financial Times reports. This is also less than a quarter of the USD 290 bn given to members of the G7 group of advanced economies last year by the IMF as special drawing rights (SDRs), the FT notes. The US and China made the biggest pledges, agreeing to shell out USD 21 bn and USD 14 bn, respectively, after the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Jakarta ended last week.

And they’ve turned the tables on the IMF: The G20 said it would continue to work towards the USD 100 bn target, and called on the IMF to set up the Resilience and Sustainability Trust before the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in April. The trust would provide developing countries with loans — at low or zero interest rates — but are still considered unfavorable by debt-heavy emerging economies that would benefit more from the no-strings-attached kind of aid that comes through SDRs and the G20’s pledges.