The SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF to supplement the official reserves of its member countries.
The SDR is not a currency. It is a potential claim on the freely usable currencies of IMF members. As such, SDRs can provide a country with liquidity.
A basket of currencies defines the SDR: the US dollar, Euro, Chinese Yuan, Japanese Yen, and the British Pound.
Since the onset of the pandemic, SDR channeling (and equivalent currency amounts) has helped many countries in need, especially those eligible for financial support from the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) and the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST).
Since 2020, channeling of about $56 billion is providing the PRGT with the capacity to mobilize $40 billion in interest-free loans to our poorest members through 2024. This financing helps support growth enhancing reforms in these countries. So far, these loans have benefited 57 countries and could benefit more in the years ahead.
Channeling has also supported the operations of the RST, which delivers affordable long-term financing to help vulnerable countries tackle long-term challenges including climate change. To date, 23 RST partners have channeled about $49 billion to the RST, which is expected to contribute toward meeting an estimated $29 billion in affordable financing.
Chad is a fragile state facing daunting development challenges. One of the least developed countries in the world, it has been affected by severe shocks, including floods, the continuous arrival of refugees from Sudan, security threats, and food insecurity. With the end of the political transition period, the authorities committed to tackle these challenges, including through broadening access to public services, strengthening governance, and improving the business environment. The preparation of their national development plan (PND) will be an opportunity to articulate the macroeconomic policies and reforms that they intend to implement over the medium term to reach these objectives.
Spillovers from the war in Sudan have worsened South Sudan’s macroeconomic imbalances and exacerbated an already-dire humanitarian situation. A pipeline carrying 70 percent of South Sudan’s oil production through Sudan has been inoperable since February 2024 and repairs have taken longer than expected owing to restricted access to the concerned areas. This has caused a sharp drop in economic growth, exports, fiscal revenue, and FX inflows and led to difficult policy challenges including high inflation, rapid parallel market exchange rate (ER) depreciation, and budget financing constraints. To cope with the shock, the authorities incurred salary arrears and monetary financing, in the face of limited alternative financing, as well as delaying the official ER adjustment. Nearly two-thirds of South Sudan’s population was exposed to acute food insecurity prior to the Sudan conflict and the situation has worsened due to floodings and a growing number of refugees. The national unity government which has been in place since 2018, consistent with the peace treaty, recently announced that the elections initially planned for December 22, 2024 have been postponed by two years. Program review.
Economic growth remains strong, driven by robust domestic activity. Inflation has moderated sharply with lower tradables prices. Relatively high oil prices support high fiscal and external balances and significant sovereign buffers. Banks have ample capital and liquidity buffers overall, and real estate activity remains buoyant. Substantial reform- and climate-related initiatives and investment spending continue.
Growth gathered momentum in 2023 on the back of recovering external demand, but exchange rate depreciation continues and inflation remains persistently high. Labor and FX shortages are intensifying. Public debt is assessed to be unsustainable, despite a tight fiscal stance. FX reserves remain low.
After decades of increasing global economic integration, the world is facing a growing risk of geoeconomic fragmentation, with potentially far-reaching implications for the global economy and the international monetary system. Against this background, this paper studies how geopolitical proximity, along with other economic factors, affects the usage of five SDR currencies in cross-border transactions. Since World War II, the global currency landscape has remained relatively stable, with the U.S. dollar serving as the dominant currency. Using country-level SWIFT transaction data, our analysis confirms the importance of inertia, trade and financial linkages in shaping the currency landscape, consistent with existing studies. On geopolitical proximity, we find that closer proximity can boost the use of the euro and renminbi, notably among emerging market and developing economies, although the impact is rather muted in the full sample. The effect on RMB usage in the full sample is more pronounced during periods of heightened trade policy uncertainty. These findings suggest that in a more geoeconomically fragmented world, alternative currencies could play a greater role.
The 2024 Article IV Consultation explains that China’s economy has remained resilient despite the continued weakness in the property sector, with gross domestic product (GDP) growing by 5.2 percent in 2023, and 5 percent y/y in the first half of 2024. The authorities have taken incremental policy steps to achieve these objectives, but a comprehensive and balanced policy approach is needed to manage the challenges facing the economy. GDP growth is expected to remain resilient at 5 percent in 2024 despite the continued property sector adjustment, supported by strong public investment and the ongoing recovery in private consumption. Inflation has been low in recent quarters amid considerable economic slack and is expected to pick up gradually as the output gap closes and the impact of lower commodity prices wanes. Growth is expected to slow in the medium term amid declining productivity growth and aging. The immediate priorities are to facilitate a more efficient and less costly property sector adjustment and to provide adequate macroeconomic policy support amid continued slack and elevated downside risks. Tackling the debt overhang, preventing the build-up of new risks, and fostering high-quality and sustainable growth requires comprehensive structural reforms.
Chad is a fragile state facing daunting development challenges. One of the least developed countries in the world, it has been affected by severe shocks, including floods, the continuous arrival of refugees from Sudan, security threats, and food insecurity. With the end of the political transition period, the authorities committed to tackle these challenges, including through broadening access to public services, strengthening governance, and improving the business environment. The preparation of their national development plan (PND) will be an opportunity to articulate the macroeconomic policies and reforms that they intend to implement over the medium term to reach these objectives.
Spillovers from the war in Sudan have worsened South Sudan’s macroeconomic imbalances and exacerbated an already-dire humanitarian situation. A pipeline carrying 70 percent of South Sudan’s oil production through Sudan has been inoperable since February 2024 and repairs have taken longer than expected owing to restricted access to the concerned areas. This has caused a sharp drop in economic growth, exports, fiscal revenue, and FX inflows and led to difficult policy challenges including high inflation, rapid parallel market exchange rate (ER) depreciation, and budget financing constraints. To cope with the shock, the authorities incurred salary arrears and monetary financing, in the face of limited alternative financing, as well as delaying the official ER adjustment. Nearly two-thirds of South Sudan’s population was exposed to acute food insecurity prior to the Sudan conflict and the situation has worsened due to floodings and a growing number of refugees. The national unity government which has been in place since 2018, consistent with the peace treaty, recently announced that the elections initially planned for December 22, 2024 have been postponed by two years. Program review.
Economic growth remains strong, driven by robust domestic activity. Inflation has moderated sharply with lower tradables prices. Relatively high oil prices support high fiscal and external balances and significant sovereign buffers. Banks have ample capital and liquidity buffers overall, and real estate activity remains buoyant. Substantial reform- and climate-related initiatives and investment spending continue.
Growth gathered momentum in 2023 on the back of recovering external demand, but exchange rate depreciation continues and inflation remains persistently high. Labor and FX shortages are intensifying. Public debt is assessed to be unsustainable, despite a tight fiscal stance. FX reserves remain low.
After decades of increasing global economic integration, the world is facing a growing risk of geoeconomic fragmentation, with potentially far-reaching implications for the global economy and the international monetary system. Against this background, this paper studies how geopolitical proximity, along with other economic factors, affects the usage of five SDR currencies in cross-border transactions. Since World War II, the global currency landscape has remained relatively stable, with the U.S. dollar serving as the dominant currency. Using country-level SWIFT transaction data, our analysis confirms the importance of inertia, trade and financial linkages in shaping the currency landscape, consistent with existing studies. On geopolitical proximity, we find that closer proximity can boost the use of the euro and renminbi, notably among emerging market and developing economies, although the impact is rather muted in the full sample. The effect on RMB usage in the full sample is more pronounced during periods of heightened trade policy uncertainty. These findings suggest that in a more geoeconomically fragmented world, alternative currencies could play a greater role.
The 2024 Article IV Consultation explains that China’s economy has remained resilient despite the continued weakness in the property sector, with gross domestic product (GDP) growing by 5.2 percent in 2023, and 5 percent y/y in the first half of 2024. The authorities have taken incremental policy steps to achieve these objectives, but a comprehensive and balanced policy approach is needed to manage the challenges facing the economy. GDP growth is expected to remain resilient at 5 percent in 2024 despite the continued property sector adjustment, supported by strong public investment and the ongoing recovery in private consumption. Inflation has been low in recent quarters amid considerable economic slack and is expected to pick up gradually as the output gap closes and the impact of lower commodity prices wanes. Growth is expected to slow in the medium term amid declining productivity growth and aging. The immediate priorities are to facilitate a more efficient and less costly property sector adjustment and to provide adequate macroeconomic policy support amid continued slack and elevated downside risks. Tackling the debt overhang, preventing the build-up of new risks, and fostering high-quality and sustainable growth requires comprehensive structural reforms.
