Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)
Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), also known as the paper gold, are a form of international reserves created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1969 to solve the problem of international liquidity. They are not paper notes or currency. They are international units of account in which the official account of the IMF are kept. Origin of Special Drawing Rights Special Drawing Rights were created through the First Amendment of the Fund Articles of Agreement in 1969 following persistent US deficits in balance of payments to solve the problem of liquidity. Until December 1971, an SDR was linked to 0.88867 gram of gold and was equivalent to US $1. With the break down of fixed parity system after 1973 when the US dollar and other major currencies were allowed to float, it was decided to stabilize the exchange value of the SDR. Accordingly, the value of SDR was calculated each Continue reading