The general drawing right (GDR) is similar to the special drawing right (SDR), and the general drawing right is also allocated to the member countries of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But unlike SDR, ordinary SDR is credit, and SDR can be used as a foreign currency reserve in addition to the existing gold and dollar reserves of member States.
Ordinary drawing rights are issued to solve the current account deficit of member countries. The general term is 3 to 5 years, and the maximum amount is 125% of its share.
special drawing rights
Special drawing rights (SDR, also known as "paper gold")
★ The establishment and function of special drawing rights
Special Drawing Rights (SDR) is a reserve asset and accounting unit created by the International Monetary Fund, also known as "paper gold". This is the right to use the funds allocated by the International Monetary Fund to member countries. When a member country has a balance of payments deficit, it can exchange foreign exchange with other member countries designated by the IMF to pay the balance of payments deficit or repay IMF loans, and it can also act as an international reserve like gold and freely convertible currencies. However, because it is only a unit of account, not a real currency, it must be converted into other currencies before use and cannot be directly used for trade or non-trade payment. Because it is a supplement to the original ordinary drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund, it is called Special Drawing Rights (SDR).
The establishment of SDR has gone through a long brewing process. The first dollar crisis in the early 1960s exposed the major defects of the Bretton Woods monetary system centered on the dollar, which made more and more people realize that the international monetary system based on a country's currency could not maintain long-term stability. Since the mid-1960s, the reform of the international monetary system established after World War II has been put on the agenda. Taking the United States and Britain as one side, in order to save the decline of the dollar and pound, prevent the further loss of gold, make up for the shortage of the dollar, pound and gold, and meet the needs of world trade development. The six western European countries, led by France, believe that it is not the lack of international circulation means, but the "flood of dollars" and excess currency. Therefore, it is emphasized that the United States should eliminate the balance of payments deficit, and strongly oppose the creation of a new reserve currency, and advocate the establishment of a gold-based reserve currency unit to replace the US dollar and the British pound. 1in April, 964, Belgium proposed a compromise: increase the automatic drawing rights of countries from the IMF, instead of creating another reserve currency to solve the possible problem of insufficient international circulation means. The "Group of Ten" in the International Monetary Fund adopted the Belgian scheme, which is close to that of the United States and Britain, and was adopted at the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund in September 1967. 1968 In March, the "Group of Ten" put forward a formal plan for SDR. But it was shelved because France refused to sign it. After the US dollar crisis forced the US government to announce that the US dollar would stop converting into gold, the US dollar could no longer be used as an international reserve currency independently, and at this time, the currencies of other countries did not have the conditions to be used as international reserve currencies. In this way, there is a crisis. If the international reserve currency or international circulation means cannot be increased, it will affect the development of world trade. Therefore, it is urgent for the IMF to provide supplementary reserve currency or circulation means. Therefore, at the annual meeting of 1969, the IMF formally adopted the reserve currency scheme proposed by the Group of Ten.
★ Distribution and use of special drawing rights
Allocation of special drawing rights
According to the agreement of the International Monetary Fund, all IMF members can voluntarily participate in the allocation of SDR and become participants in the SDR account. Member States can also not participate, and if they want to quit after participating, they can give a written notice in advance and quit at any time.
The IMF stipulates that every five years is a basic cycle for allocating special drawing rights. The 24th Annual Meeting of IMF decided on the first allocation period, that is, from 1970 to 1972, and issued 9.5 billion SDR units, which were distributed according to the fund shares shared by member countries. The bigger the share, the more it will be distributed. Industrial countries * * * received 6.997 billion yuan, accounting for 74.05% of the total. Among them, the United States has the largest share of 2.294 billion, accounting for 24.63% of the total. This distribution method makes developing countries in urgent need of funds get the least share, while developed countries get the most share. Developing countries are very dissatisfied with this, and have been demanding to change this unfair distribution method, to link SDR with aid, and to increase their share in the IMF in order to obtain more SDR.
The use of special drawing rights.
The purpose of SDR is: after being allocated SDR, participating countries will be listed as their own reserve assets, which can be used when there is a balance of payments deficit. The use of SDR needs to designate a participating country to accept SDR through the International Monetary Fund and provide freely usable currencies, mainly US dollars, German marks, French francs, Japanese yen and British pounds. Special drawing rights can also be directly used to repay loans from the International Monetary Fund and pay interest fees; As long as both parties agree, participating countries can also directly use SDR to provide and repay loans and give gifts, and use it for financial services such as forward transactions and loan guarantees.
The interest rate of SDR was very low at first, only 65,438+0.5% during the period of 65,438+0970, and increased to 5% from June 65,438+0974. In the future, the calculation method of SDR interest rate is roughly based on the weighted average of short-term interest rates in the financial markets of the United States, Germany, Japan, Britain and France, and will be adjusted once every quarter.
★ Fixed value of SDR
SDR is not a tangible currency, it is invisible and intangible, just a book asset.
At the beginning of SDR's establishment, its value was determined by the gold content. At that time, it was stipulated that 35 SDR units were equal to 1 ounce of gold, equivalent to US dollars. On 197 1, 12, 18, the dollar depreciated for the first time, but the gold content of SDR remained unchanged, so the number of 1 SDR rose to 1.0857 1.
1973 February 12 USD depreciated for the second time, but the gold content of SDR remained unchanged, and 1 SDR rose to 1.20635 USD. 1973, the currencies of major western countries were decoupled from the US dollar. After the floating exchange rate was implemented, the exchange rate kept changing, but the price of SDR against the US dollar remained at the level of 1.20635/ unit. The price of SDR against other currencies is calculated according to the exchange rate of the US dollar against other currencies, and SDR has completely lost its independence, causing dissatisfaction in many countries. The G20 Committee advocates the use of a basket of currencies as the standard of SDR. 1July, 1974, the IMF officially announced that SDR was decoupled from gold and used a basket of 16 currencies as the SDR standard. These 16 currencies include the currencies of member countries that accounted for more than 1% of the total global exports of goods and services in the five years before 1972. In addition to US dollars, there are German marks, Japanese yen, British pound, French franc, Canadian dollar, Italian lira, Dutch guilder, Belgian franc, Swedish krona, Australian dollar, Norwegian krona, Danish krona, Spanish peseta, South African rand and Austrian shilling. According to the changes in the foreign exchange market, the quotation of SDR is announced every day. 1In July, 976, the IMF adjusted the currencies in the "basket", removing the Danish krone and the South African rand and replacing them with the Saudi Arabian riyal and the Iranian riyal. At the same time, the proportion of currencies in the "basket" was appropriately adjusted. In order to simplify the valuation method of SDR and enhance the attractiveness of SDR, on September 1980 and 18, the IMF announced that it would simplify the "basket" of currencies into five western currencies, namely US dollar, German mark, Japanese yen, French franc and British pound, accounting for 42% and 65,438+respectively. In 1987, the weights of the five currencies in the currency basket are adjusted to 42%, 19%, 15%, 12% and 12% respectively.
It has been more than ten years since Jamaica Agreement was signed, and its goal of taking SDR as the main international reserve asset is far from being realized. In the total international reserves, SDR accounted for 4.5% in 197 1, fell to 2.8% in 1976, and rose to 4.8% in 1982, with little progress in the past ten years. The proportion of foreign exchange in all international reserves has been as high as 80% for many years, so the main reserve in the world's reserve assets is still foreign exchange, mainly US dollars. Especially with the deepening of the diversification of the world economy and regional integration, the struggle for leadership in the international financial field is still fierce, and it seems not easy to realize SDR as the pillar of Jamaica's monetary system.