Washington, DC:
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved on
February 8, 2023 the applications of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB),
the Development Bank of Latin America (known as Corporacion Andina de
Fomento or CAF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the Inter-American
Development Bank (IADB) to become prescribed holders of
Special Drawings Rights
(SDRs), an international reserve asset created by the Fund to help meet the
long-term global need to supplement reserves. Approval of these
institutions brings the number of prescribed holders to twenty (see
attached list).
Prescribed holders may acquire, hold and use SDRs in operations with other
prescribed holders and participants in the SDR Department. The SDR
Department maintains records on SDR transactions, holdings, and
allocations. All IMF members are currently participants in the SDR
Department. Under current IMF decisions, prescribed holders may exchange
SDRs for currency, and use SDRs in certain operations, including loans,
settlement of financial obligations, swaps, pledges, transfer as security
for the performance of financial obligations, forwards, and donations.
Prescribed holders may elect to participate in the SDR
Voluntary Trading Agreements (VTAs)
or enter into bilateral agreements to conduct their exchanges of SDRs.
Unlike participants in the SDR Department, prescribed holders do not
receive allocations of SDRs, and they may not request an exchange of SDRs
in transactions with designation.
[1]
As a background, the IMF’s Articles of Agreement authorize the Fund to
prescribe as holders of SDRs (i) non-members, (ii) members that are not
participants in the SDR Department, (iii) institutions that perform
functions of a central bank for one or more IMF member countries, and (iv)
other official entities. The five applicants approved today are all “other
official entities”.
Attachment
Following the Executive Board’s decision, the following institutions are
currently the prescribed holders of SDRs:
African Development Bank (AFDB)
African Development Fund (AFDF)
Arab Monetary Fund (AMF)
Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
Bank of Central African States (BEAC)
Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)
Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO)
Development Bank of Latin America (Corporacion Andina de Fomento or CAF)
Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB)
European Central Bank (ECB)
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
European Investment Bank (EIB)
Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
International Development Association (IDA)
International Fund for Agricultural Development
Islamic Development Bank
Latin American Reserve Fund (FLAR) - Former Andean Reserve Fund
Nordic Investment Bank