Ever come across the term ‘Special Drawing Rights’ or ‘SDRs’ and felt completely bewildered? Check out this latest episode of the Global Get Down, where Host Gaurav has a conversation with an expert on the IMF and the SDRs.

Mark Plant joins us as Senior Policy Fellow at the Center for Global Development, where he currently dedicates the bulk of his research on making the case that Central Banks should Recycle their excess SDRs issued by the IMF, to promote international development and climate finance goals and prevent these potential assets from “sitting around” in a “clumsy” financial order.

They cover the basics of how SDRs are allocated to IMF member countries according to their Quota Formula, and how this can lead to inefficient distribution where advanced economies with no explicit need for these excess SDRs get allocated the most while vulnerable countries who have the highest need for SDRs have access to the least.

They analyse some different options for well-meaning advanced economies to ‘recycle’ their excess SDRs to allow vulnerable nations to benefit from them and talk about why Central Banks today are sometimes hesitant to let their SDRs go. This is based in the context of the history of the SDR and their establishment in 1969.

Mark Plant is championing the cause of distributing SDRs in a careful and prudent manner through the different Trust Funds of the IMF. We’re pleased that he could join this episode and help us understand the opportunities, challenges and prospectus for SDRs in the context of increasing development and climate finance.

Link to CGD's YouTube Video on 'Fighting Climate Change with SDRs': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Un5ywRiObA
Link to the CGD Blog on SDRs: https://www.cgdev.org/tags/imf-support-covid-19-recovery

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