The IMF’s Special Drawing Rights, or short SDRs, serve mainly as an accounting unit. They
were created in 1969 to support the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system as a reserve
currency. Today, in an environment of mainly free floating currencies SDRs only play a
subordinate role as a reserve currency and are mainly used as a unit of account for the IMF
and other international organisations. They are therefore neither a currency nor a claim on the
IMF, but rather a claim on the currencies of the IMF members, as the SDRs form part of the
currency reserves of a country. All member states are therefore entitled to purchase other
currencies in exchange for their SDRs within their quotas. That means that each country can
exchange its SDRs into the currencies of the other member countries.
Initially one SDR was defined as equivalent to exactly 0.888671 grams of gold. Following the
collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1973 it was decided to fix the SDRs against a basket
of currencies, which at present consists of the USD (0.632 USD, approx. 42%), the euro
(0.4100 EUR, approx. 37%), the yen (18.4 Yen, approx. 12%) and Sterling (0.0903 GBP,
approx. 9%). The value of the SDR is calculated daily by the IMF, based on the exchange rates
of the currencies forming the currency basket. Every five years the composition of the basket is
reviewed so as to ensure that it reflects the importance of the currencies in the international
trading and financial systems. The most recent adjustment came into force at the beginning of
2006 while the next review is due at the end of 2010.
Each IMF member country is allocated a quota depending on its economic situation and
characteristics. The quota allocated by the IMF is denominated in SDRs. The largest member
state of the IMF, the USA, have a quota of SDR 37.1bn while the smallest member state,
Palau, has a quota of SDR 3.1m. Member states have to pay subsriptions to the IMF according
to their quota. When joining the IMF a country usually pays one quarter of these funds in SDRs
and widely accepted currencies (USD, EUR, JPY, GBP), while the remaining ¾ can be paid in
the country’s own currency. The quota also determines the country’s voting power in the IMF
as well as the maximum amount of financing a country can receive under the stand-by and
extended arrangements in case of balance of payment problems. The current access limit
varies depending on the loan, whith the maximum being 100% of the quota anually and 300%
cumulatively. In “expectional circumstances”, though, some loans may exceed the access limits
- see Iceland (quota 117 mio SDR, loan 1.4 bn SDR) or Ukraine (quota 1.38 bn, loan 11 bn
SDR) and others.
A look at international currency reserves shows that the dollar remains the most attractive
currency with a share of roughly 65%. But why can the SDRs not assume the role of
international currency reserve? The SDRs are an “artificial” currency, which is not actively
traded on the FX markets. The “allocation“ of this reserve currency would be pre-determined
via the underlying currency basket (approx. 42% in USD, 37% in EUR etc). Investors and
central banks want to actively manage their currency holdings, which would be impossible if
SDRs were to be used. Moreover the idea of SDRs as a reserve currency does not seem
workable as no alternative forms of investment apart from cash accounts are possible. SDR
denominated securities, stocks, corporate or government bonds simply do not exist.
Investments would be limited to cash accounts as there are no capital or financial markets in
SDRs. The idea presented by the governor of the Chinese central bank might therefore seem
appealing in theory, but realistically SDRs do not constitute an alternative to the dollar.