Gallagher Co-Authors Op-Ed on IMF Special Drawing Rights
Kevin Gallagher, Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and Director of BU’s Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center), co-authored an article discussing the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) decision to inject the equivalent of $650 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) – IMF’s unique reserve asset – into the world economy and the need to equitably distribute these funds.
In their article, titled “Making $650B in SDRs work for lower-income countries,” Gallagher and co-author Daniel Bradlow, professor of international development law and African economic relations at the University of Pretoria, argue that the process in which these SDRs are distributed needs to give strong consideration to lower and middle-income countries (LMIC) struggling economically in the COVID-19 era. IMF law dictates that it must “allocate new issuances of SDRs among its members according to their quotas rather than according to financial need;” however, this means that LMICs necessitating resources will not receive enough to overcome the shock that the pandemic has inflicted on their economies and citizens.
Gallagher and Bradlow argue that the IMF should this opportunity to establish an innovative strategy for recycling SDRs to LMIC and conclude by stating the governance principles they feel should be used when distributing SDRs.
The full article can be read on Devex‘s website.
Kevin Gallagher is a professor of global development policy at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, where he directs the Global Development Policy Center. He is author or co-author of six books, including most recently, The China Triangle: Latin America’s China Boom and the Fate of the Washington Consensus. Read more about Professor Gallagher on his Pardee School faculty profile.