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After the Allocation: What Role for the Special Drawing Rights System?

Author

Listed:
  • Tobias Pforr

    (European University Institute)

  • Fabian Pape

    (University of Warwick)

  • Steffen Murau

    (Boston University)

Abstract

In August 2021, the IMF made a new SDR allocation to help ease pandemic-induced financial strains in the Global South. This paper assesses the potential of the SDR system to address debt-related problems in global finance. We analyze the SDR system as a web of interlocking balance sheets whose members can use SDR holdings—the system's tradable assets—for conversion into usable currency as a perpetual low-interest loan or to make payments to each other. Using original IMF data, we study how the system has been practically used since 1990. Though widely perceived as a solution in search of a problem in the post-Bretton Woods era, we find that the SDR system provides three mechanisms through which IMF members borrow and lend usable currency to each other, with different strings attached: first, transactions by agreement; second, the IMF's core lending facilities for which the SDR system offers additional resources; and third, IMF-sponsored Trusts which seek to harness the SDR system for development purposes and are the basis for the current idea of 'voluntary channeling'. Overall, given the SDR system's idiosyncratic accounting rules, the new allocation can improve the liquidity position of a country and offer some limited avenues for sovereign debt restructuring but comes with new interest and exchange rate risks. Voluntary channeling cannot happen without a wealth transfer, neither the SDR allocation nor the use of Trusts can overcome this problem. Still, Trusts can be a useful instrument to help with debt forgiveness and to ensure that borrowed funds are used for their intended purpose.

Suggested Citation

  • Tobias Pforr & Fabian Pape & Steffen Murau, 2022. "After the Allocation: What Role for the Special Drawing Rights System?," Working Papers Series inetwp180, Institute for New Economic Thinking.
    • Handle: RePEc:thk:wpaper:inetwp180
    DOI: 10.36687/inetwp180
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    File URL: https://doi.org/10.36687/inetwp180
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    Cited by:

    1. Yannis Dafermos, 2023. "Towards a climate just financial system," Working Papers 259, Department of Economics, SOAS University of London, UK.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International Monetary Fund; balance sheets; critical macro-finance; Money View; central banks; development finance; Global South.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • F02 - International Economics - - General - - - International Economic Order and Integration
    • F33 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions
    • F34 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Lending and Debt Problems
    • F53 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations
    • F55 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Institutional Arrangements
    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • N20 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - General, International, or Comparative

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