The Reallocation of Special Drawing Rights to the Benefit of the African Continent: a Proposal for Euro Area Countries

Annamaria Viterbo

February 2022

The paper describes the main features of the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), the international reserve asset issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). After the historic allocation of SDRs equivalent to US $650 billion in August 2021, it has been argued that the wealthiest economies should ‘redirect’ (or ‘re-channel’) at least some of their new SDRs to the benefit of the most vulnerable countries. The paper discusses how to overcome current legal challenges to facilitate the reallocation of the SDRs held by Euro area countries to an ambitious Next Generation Africa plan.

Keywords: Special Drawing Rights, International Monetary Fund, Africa, Europe

Annamaria Viterbo is Associate Professor of International Law, Department of Law, University of Torino and Fellow of Collegio Carlo Alberto.

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Paper prepared within the initiatives of the project “For a European Union - African Union Plan on the New Allocation of the IMF’s SDRs”, coordinated by the Centro Studi sul Federalismo (CSF) with the Robert Triffin International Foundation (RTI) and the Centre Studies on European and Global Governance (CesUE), admitted to the funding by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.