Jamus Lim questions IMF grants, Sudan debt relief, urges institutionalised foreign aid

SINGAPORE: Workers’ Party MP and Associate Professor Jamus Lim spoke in Parliament on 4 February 2026 during a debate on Singapore’s proposed grant support to the International Monetary Fund’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust and debt relief for Sudan.

Two motions were tabled seeking approval for contributions totalling about S$44.1 million.

This comprised roughly S$36 million for the IMF trust and nearly S$8 million for Sudan under a debt relief initiative.

Lim said he supported the motions in principle but asked for greater transparency on how the specific sums were calculated, why Sudan was selected, and how the grants related to Singapore’s earlier IMF commitments.

At the start of his address, Lim declared his past professional experience at a Bretton Woods institution.

He said he retained no ongoing financial interest and was speaking solely in his capacity as a parliamentarian.

The proposed contribution to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust would support low-income countries facing economic shocks. A separate component would help finance debt relief for Sudan under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative.

Lim acknowledged the IMF’s long-standing role in poverty reduction, although he said such work could be viewed as stretching beyond its original mandate. Still, he said assistance to the poorest countries need not be confined to one institution.

Three areas of concern

Lim structured his remarks around three issues: the parameters used to determine the funding amounts, the historical context of Singapore’s past IMF pledges, and the need to institutionalise Singapore’s foreign development assistance.

On the funding amounts, Lim said the S$36 million contribution to the IMF trust was likely linked to Singapore’s quota at the Fund.

He added that the Sudan allocation was presumably a proportional share of total debt relief sought.

However, he asked the Government to confirm whether these assumptions were correct and to explain how the figures were derived. As a donor, Lim said Singapore should scrutinise the rationale behind such requests.

Why Sudan?

Lim said there was little dispute that Sudan faced severe economic distress. With GDP per capita estimated at about US$1,250, Sudan ranked among the world’s poorest countries. Its public debt stood at close to 2.5 times national income.

He noted that debt sustainability analyses by international institutions had concluded that Sudan’s debt burden was unsustainable, underscoring the case for relief.

However, Lim pointed out that there were 39 countries on the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries list.

Some were poorer than Sudan, while others carried similarly heavy debt burdens.

He highlighted that Eritrea, like Sudan, had not yet received debt relief, and asked why Sudan had been chosen for this round of assistance. Donor countries, he said, should understand the IMF’s selection framework.

Questions on past IMF commitments

Lim also questioned how the current grants related to Singapore’s earlier IMF pledges. As of 2025, Singapore had pledged about US$1.25 billion to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust.

He asked whether this earlier amount had been fully drawn down, and if not, why the current contribution could not be met from the existing pool.

He also queried whether the earlier pledge differed materially from the present grants.

Call to institutionalise foreign assistance

In his final point, Lim renewed a call first made several years earlier to institutionalise Singapore’s foreign development assistance. He suggested creating a dedicated agency to consolidate subscriptions and manage ad hoc aid.

Such a framework, he argued, would subject overseas assistance to regular budgetary scrutiny and reduce reliance on one-off motions. He said it could enhance Singapore’s soft power without requiring a large budget increase.

Government’s response

Responding to the debate, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan said Singapore’s contribution towards Sudan’s debt relief was part of a broader multilateral effort, with 122 IMF members having pledged support.

These included regional peers such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Tan said Singapore had a strong interest in the stability of the international monetary system, which the IMF played a principal role in safeguarding.

He added that Singapore itself had benefited from similar multilateral funding in its early years of development. Singapore last contributed to the IMF in 2016 and 2021, both of which were approved by Parliament.

How the amounts were determined

On the question of how the figures were set, Tan said IMF requests for member contributions were generally commensurate with countries’ quota shares.

These quota shares were determined by indicators such as GDP, economic openness and international reserves. Countries with larger quota shares were therefore expected to contribute more.

Tan also clarified that past contributions to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust were pooled and not attributable to individual contributing members.

Why Sudan was eligible

Addressing the choice of Sudan, Tan said the IMF had provided debt relief to 38 of the 39 eligible countries under the initiative, leaving Sudan as the last remaining eligible country.

He said the IMF applied criteria such as satisfactory programme performance, implementation of poverty reduction strategies and key structural reforms before granting relief.

Tan emphasised that the approved contributions would not draw on Singapore’s past reserves and would not reduce domestic spending. He thanked Lim for supporting the motions and for his call to do more internationally.

After a debate involving six MPs, Parliament approved the two motions.

The support will take the form of 25.48 million special drawing rights, an IMF-created asset exchangeable into major currencies.