Guidance Note for Fund Staff on the Treatment and Use of SDR Allocations


Book Description

Against the backdrop of the global financial crisis, the IMF has decided to implement a US$250 billion general allocation of special drawing rights (SDRs). In addition, the Fourth Amendment of the Fund’s Articles of Agreement has recently become effective, and will make available to SDR Department participants a special allocation of up to an additional SDR 21.5 billion (US$33 billion). Nearly US$115 billion of these combined allocations will go to emerging market and developing countries, including about US$20 billion to low-income countries (LICs), thereby providing an important boost to the reserves of countries with the greatest needs.




The Future of the SDR in Light of Changes in the International Monetary System


Book Description

This book edited by Michael Mussa, James M. Boughton, and Peter Isard, records the proceedings of a seminar held at the IMF in March 1996 on the future of the special drawing right (SDR), given changes in the international monetary system since the inception of the SDR. The seminar focuses on the differences in opinion in the international community on the desirability or feasibility of an additional allocation of SDRs.




IMF Financial Operations 2018


Book Description

IMF Financial Operations 2018 provides a broad introduction to how the IMF fulfills its mission through its financial activities. It covers the financial structure and operations of the IMF and provides background detail on the financial statements. It reviews the IMF's three main activities: lending, surveillance, and technical assistance.




Enhancing International Monetary Stability--A Role for the SDR?


Book Description

The SDR has enjoyed renewed attention lately in the context of debates on international monetary reform. To be sure, the term SDR has been used to refer to three different concepts—(i) a composite reserve asset created in 1969: the “official SDR” as defined in the Fund’s Articles; (ii) a potential new class of reserve assets: tradable SDRdenominated securities issued by the Fund or an investment vehicle backed by a subset of the Fund’s membership; and (iii) a unit of account, which could be used to price internationally traded assets (e.g., sovereign bonds) and goods (e.g., commodities), to peg currencies, and to report balance of payments data. All three are discussed in this paper.




Exorbitant Privilege


Book Description

It is, as a critic of U.S.




Resetting the International Monetary (Non)System


Book Description

This volume provides an analysis of the global monetary system and proposes a comprehensive yet evolutionary reform of the system aimed at creating better monetary cooperation for the twenty-first century.




Is SDR Creation Inflationary?


Book Description

Giving greater prominence to SDRs in international reserves would entail allocating them more frequently in significant amounts. The question has properly been raised whether such issuance would be inflationary for the world economy. This short paper addresses that question. It explores five different “scenarios” that describe how recipient countries and the leading central banks—most notably the U.S. Federal Reserve (FRB) and the EU’s European Central Bank (ECB)—would respond to those allocations. It concludes that SDR issuance would be inflationary for the world economy under two of the scenarios, but not under the remaining three scenarios, which include the most likely ones.




France and the Breakdown of the Bretton Woods International Monetary System


Book Description

The IMF Working Papers series is designed to make IMF staff research available to a wide audience. Almost 300 Working Papers are released each year, covering a wide range of theoretical and analytical topics, including balance of payments, monetary and fiscal issues, global liquidity, and national and international economic developments.







Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain


Book Description

Presents a set of basic exercises designed to release creative potential and tap into the special abilities of the brain's right hemisphere.