The Center for Economic and Policy Research, ActionAid USA, MENAFem, Bretton Woods Project, and Latindadd invite you to a panel discussion at the IMF-World Bank 2025 Spring Meeting Civil Society Policy Forum.

The 2021 SDR issuance provided a critical lifeline to developing countries amidst a worldwide poly-crisis. Global civil society and nations across the Global South have made repeated calls for additional SDR issuances ever since. But efforts to make full use of these existing and future issuances have been hamstrung by relatively recent erroneous statistical accounting recommendations, and conflicts between central banks and national governments. This session seeks to clarify the SDRs’ status as an equity instrument and the reserve asset characteristics of SDR investments, in order to unleash their full potential as a tool for budget support and debt relief.

Speakers:

• Andrés Arauz, Senior Research Fellow, CEPR
• Maia Colodenco, Director of Global Initiatives, Suramericana Vision
• Jon Sward, Environment Project Manager, Bretton Woods Project

Moderator:

Niranjali Amerasinghe, Executive Director, ActionAid USA