The IMF called options for using the "historic issue" for $ 650 billion

Member countries of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) can use the special drawing rights (SDR) they received during the global additional issue to exchange for a freely usable currency (dollar, euro, pound sterling, yen, yuan) to adjust the composition of their international reserves or finance budget expenditures. This is stated in the IMF policy document on the use of new SDRs, published on August 23.

Earlier, the IMF announced that the “historic” distribution of 456 billion SDRs, equivalent to $650 billion, has come into force - additional reserve assets are distributed as part of the fight against the crisis due to the pandemic among 187 fund participants in proportion to their quotas in the IMF. Three countries - Venezuela, Myanmar and Afghanistan - did not receive their SDR due to uncertainty with the legitimate government. Russia got about $17.5 billion worth of SDRs.

States that have current debt obligations to the IMF can also use the received SDRs to service these debts, the document says. Another way is to exchange the SDR for a freely usable currency (a characteristic assigned by the fund itself) and use it to reduce external or expensive domestic public debt.

“Using resources, including SDRs, to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic can bring significant benefits in the short and long term,” the fund notes. He points out that where national institutional arrangements allow, SDRs can be used to increase government funding. In this case, the country's central bank may, for example, exchange the received SDRs for another currency and lend it to the finance ministry.