Annual Update on SDR Trading Operations
Policy Papers, September 29, 2023
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- Annual Update on SDR Trading Operations
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Bibliographic details
- Published: September 29, 2023
- Series: Policy Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400256868.007
Executive summary and market status
- SDR trading has continued to be dominated by SDR sales, although SDR acquisitions have increased significantly.
- For more than three decades, SDRs have exclusively been exchanged for freely usable currencies in transactions by agreement, primarily through the Voluntary Trading Arrangements (VTAs).
- The VTAs continue to have ample capacities to meet the demand for exchange of SDRs into currencies.
Key statistics (September 2022 to August 2023)
- SDR 17.9 billion were sold through the VTA market.
- SDR 8.9 billion were exchanged by 29 participants into currencies.
- SDR 8.0 billion were sold by the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) and the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) for liquidity management and to facilitate the investment of SDR contributions.
Market dynamics and drivers
- On the purchase side, the volume and number of transactions increased from the previous year.
- The increase in purchases reflected more participants needing to replenish their SDR holdings to cover charges to the IMF, reflecting the rising SDR interest rate.
Operational implications
- VTAs remain the primary mechanism for SDR exchange into freely usable currencies.
- The existing VTA capacities are sufficient to meet current demand for exchanges of SDRs into currencies.
Annual Update on SDR Trading Operations
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- Policy Paper