Among the various limitations put by the IMF on the free use of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) is the reconstitution requirement which binds participants in the Special Drawing Account to maintain a stipulated average level of allocated SDRs. Using the example of Zambia which is representative...

Since the introduction of the system of floating exchange rates policy-makers have been troubled by uncertainties regarding the effects of this system on international trade. Do exchange rate changes affect trade flows? Can governments manipulate exchange rates? Have countries been “injured”...

The IMF's Interim Committee recently for the first time discussed the creation of a “Substitution Account” to convert certain amounts of excess reserve currencies into SDRs. This issue is likely to be on the agenda of the next annual meeting of the IMF in the fall of this year. Prof....