The SDR’s Time Has Come

Rethinking the Special Drawing Right could bolster the IMF’s role in the global financial safety net

By José Antonio Ocampo – November 27, 2019

This year’s 75th anniversary of the Bretton Woods conference that created the IMF and World Bank coincided with the half-century celebration of the inclusion of the Special Drawing Right (SDR) in the IMF Articles of Agreement.

We also saw in 2019 the spread of crypto-assets and the launch of Facebook’s proposal to create Libra, a global digital currency based on blockchain technology. Central banks are actively discussing issuing digital national currencies, and former IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde raised the possibility of launching a digital version of the SDR.

In this brave new world, is it time to rethink the SDR’s role?

Originally published by International Monetary Fund. Read the entire story here.