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Policy Brief 09-11
Understanding Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)
by John Williamson, Peterson Institute for International Economics
June 2009
Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), the reserve asset issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have lately reappeared in the news. The G-20 leaders, at their recent meeting in London, endorsed a proposal to issue $250 billion in SDRs to counteract the financial crisis, while the governor of the People's Bank of China has called for SDRs to gradually replace the dollar at the center of the international monetary system, a plan that would be facilitated by allowing countries to convert their dollar reserve holdings into SDRs.
John Williamson reviews the history of the IMF's SDRs and provides an overview of these and other proposals that would increase this synthetic currency's role in the international monetary system. The SDR was originally created to resolve a recognized flaw in the structure of the postwar Bretton Woods monetary system, but the eventual breakdown of Bretton Woods and the subsequent evolution of the current dollar-centered system have relegated the SDR mostly to the minor role of serving as a unit of account for the IMF's transactions. Recent proposals would return the SDR to greater prominence and could help to create a financial system that is free from the imbalances that have plagued the world of late.
View full document [pdf]
RELATED INTERVIEWS
A Synthetic Currency Can Help the Real Economy September 21, 2009
RELATED LINKS
Op-ed: The G-20 Is Failing April 12, 2012
Op-ed: The IMF Should Heed This Resignation July 25, 2012
Working Paper 11-16: Asia and Global Financial Governance October 2011
Working Paper 11-5: Integrating Reform of Financial Regulation with Reform of the International Monetary System February 2011
Policy Brief 10-29: Strengthening IMF Surveillance: A Comprehensive Proposal December 2010
Working Paper 10-14: Reform of the Global Financial Architecture October 2010
Speech: Crisis and Beyond—The Next Phase of IMF Reform June 29, 2010
Congressional Testimony: The Role of the International Monetary Fund and Federal Reserve in the Stabilization of Europe May 20, 2010
Op-ed: How the Fund Can Help Save the World Economy March 5, 2009
Article: Economists Seek IMF Reform January 26, 2009
Policy Brief 07-1: The IMF Quota Formula: Linchpin of Fund Reform February 2007
Paper: What Next for Argentina? February 2004