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...

This note reviews some concepts of global liquidity and discusses measurement approaches that have been used by various interlocutors, including at the BIS, by Fund staff, and in academia. Some measures that could be regularly monitored by policy makers are presented

The paper starts by presenting evidence of commonality in global financial conditions. This commonality is then related to specific drivers of global financial conditions through a range of transmission channels, including cross-border banking and portfolio flows. Empirical analysis shows a...

This report follows up on the impact of the historic $650 billion 2021 SDR allocation on the global economy, documenting IMF members' use of the allocation and assessing its economic effects. The report finds that the allocation was beneficial for the global economy, helping meet the long-term...

This paper proposes an extension of the current SDR valuation basket for a period of nine months to September 30, 2016. This extension would respond to feedback from SDR users on the desirability of avoiding changes in the basket at the end of the calendar year and facilitate the continued...

Following the recent diagnostic of the international monetary system (IMS), the IMF will explore whether a broader role for the SDR could contribute to its smooth functioning. The economic rationale for or against broader use of the SDR will be examined, focusing in particular on identifying any...

Currency amounts are used to determine the daily value of the SDR. Currency amounts are the number of units of each currency in the SDR basket. The value of the SDR (in U.S. dollars) is the sum of these amounts, valued at daily exchange rates of the currencies against the U.S. dollar. These...

On June 25, the Executive Board discussed a proposal for a historic USD 650 billion general allocation of SDRs to address the long-term global need to supplement existing reserve assets. Following concurrence by the Executive Board on July 8, the Managing Director submitted the proposal to the...

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...

The paper explores the pros and cons of maintaining the current 'freely usable currency' criterion, and clarifies indicators for assessing it. The freely usable concept and its two key elements-currencies should be "widely used" and "widely traded"-are set out in the Articles and serve important...