scholarly journals Special Drawing Rights: International Monetary Support for Developing Countries in Times of the COVID-19 Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Gallagher ◽  
José Antonio Ocampo ◽  
Ulrich Volz

AbstractA major issuance of special drawing rights (SDRs) through the International Monetary Fund would be a key tool to provide financial support to developing and emerging economies and limit the economic and financial fallout of the COVID-19 crisis. SDRs are an unconditional resource, and the case for such an allocation is very strong during an exogenous shock, such as the current one. An SDR allocation would enhance the international liquidity in the hands of emerging and developing countries, so that public responses to the health crisis are not imperilled by financial crises. Close to two-fifths of a new SDR allocation would directly go to developing and emerging economies. In addition, a new mechanism should be created through which countries that do not need their SDR allocation lend them to the IMF, to increase the Fund’s lending capacity. Developed countries can also allocate the SDRs they do not use for official development assistance.

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-210
Author(s):  
Simone Borghesi

AbstractThe present article describes the main insights deriving from the papers collected in this special issue which jointly provide a ‘room with a view’ on some of the most relevant issues in climate policy such as: the role of uncertainty, the distributional implications of climate change, the drivers and applications of decarbonizing innovation, the role of emissions trading and its interactions with companion policies. While looking at different issues and from different angles, all papers share a similar attention to policy aspects and implications, especially in developing countries. This is particularly important to evaluate whether and to what extent the climate policies adopted thus far in developed countries can be replicated in emerging economies.


2012 ◽  
Vol 51 (4II) ◽  
pp. 209-226
Author(s):  
Shahbaz Nasir

Traditionally, developed countries are the major exporters of services; however, technological developments in IT and communications over the last two decades have made it possible for developing countries to exploit their comparative advantage in some modern services. The driving force for this comparative advantage is the large pool of semi-skilled and skilled graduates in emerging countries who can deliver their services across borders, using advanced communication technologies. Why do emerging countries have increasing modern services exports? How are these exports explained by theory? What are the factors behind this export growth and the reasons to expect future growth? These are some of the important questions that researchers and policy-makers would like to find answers to and an attempt has been made to answer these questions in this paper. Identification of the sources of services export growth from emerging and developing countries can be attempted through established theories of goods trade and production. This paper reviews selected theory and empirical work in order to explain the underlying causes for growing exports of services. Causes for the export of modern services may include a comparative advantage of the exporting country, cost reduction for the importing firm through outsourcing, reduction in trading costs due to technological improvements and an increase in gains from services trade.


Author(s):  
Laura Alcaide Muñoz ◽  
Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar

Many countries have implemented changes in public sector management models based on the strategic and intensive use of new information and communication technologies. However, most research has focused on developed countries, with the area of emerging economies being neglected. This chapter offers a framework to help public administrators and researchers evaluate the field of e-Government research in emerging economies, identifying research gaps and possibilities for improvement in the context of e-government research in developing countries. The findings reveal the existence of various research gaps and highlight areas that should be addressed in future research, especially in developing countries. Indeed, the research approach to e-government remains immature, focusing on particular cases or dimensions, while little has been done to produce theories or models to clarify and explain the political processes of e-government.


2016 ◽  
pp. 1208-1227
Author(s):  
Monica Gray

Diarrhea is the second leading cause of death and is the major cause of malnutrition in children under age 5 worldwide. More than 50 percent of the cases occur in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Open defecation, substandard fecal disposal systems, and contaminated water supplies are the typical causes of diarrheal diseases. This public health crisis in low income countries mirrors the experiences of today's industrialized nations two centuries ago. The lessons learned from their sanitary evolution can be instructive in charting a sustainable path towards saving the lives of almost 2 million children annually. In this chapter a case study of Cuba's sanitary reformation is also presented to showcase successes, similar to those of developed countries, within a developing country and economically challenging context.


1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-131
Author(s):  
Alec Cairncross

In the 1960s, when I was Head of the (UK) Government Economic Service, I kept a private diary of conversations and events which has just been published. The excerpts from the diary which appear below relate to what I learned in 1967–8 about French attitudes to issues of international importance in which the United Kingdom was involved. The diary deals with four such issues: (1) the British application to join the European Economic Community; (2) the proposals to add to international liquidity through the creation of a new unit or, alternatively, of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs); (3) the British devaluation of 1967; and (4) the Bonn Conference in November 1968, at which it was widely expected that agreement would be reached to devalue the franc and revalue the mark.


Policy Papers ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 09 ◽  
Author(s):  

Against the backdrop of the global financial crisis, the IMF has decided to implement a US$250 billion general allocation of special drawing rights (SDRs). In addition, the Fourth Amendment of the Fund’s Articles of Agreement has recently become effective, and will make available to SDR Department participants a special allocation of up to an additional SDR 21.5 billion (US$33 billion). Nearly US$115 billion of these combined allocations will go to emerging market and developing countries, including about US$20 billion to low-income countries (LICs), thereby providing an important boost to the reserves of countries with the greatest needs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hitesh Kumar BThakkar

When the global monetary system faced the problem of inadequate supply of gold reserves, it led to the emergence of new paper gold in the form of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). SDRs are used by member nations of IMF for a wide variety of transactions on IMF’s Operations Division and Administered Accounts in proportion to their quotas. Lately, the IMF has been subjected to extensive criticism on issues of recent allocation of SDRs and the related weighted voting rights. At present, the SDRs measurement is based on weighted average and a significant size of SDRs quota is allocated to developed countries due to their higher weight ratio. The SDRs quota allocated to developing and least developed countries is insufficient because they possess low weight ratio and low value. Further, the IMF does not follow the universal membership in which one country get one vote right; these allocated SDRs reflect the voting power of member nations. If a few countries with high SDRs collude with one another, it can lead to a decision favouring these countries due to a high percentage of voting rights with them. This could also result in these countries having their own representatives in the highest decision-making body, i.e. Board of Governors. This paper argues that the method of quota allocation needs to be reworked for better allocative efficiency purpose, to achieve a progressive and inclusive international economic order.


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