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New general SDR allocation increases Danmarks Nationalbank's foreign-exchange reserve

​A new general allocation of Special Drawing Rights, SDRs, from the International Monetary Fund, IMF, becomes effective on 23 August. The SDR allocation is equivalent to 650 billion dollars. Denmark will receive SDR 3.3 billion, equivalent to approximately kr. 30 billion. Denmark's SDR holdings are included in Danmarks Nationalbank's foreign-exchange reserve, which therefore increases by approximately kr. 30 billion with the allocation.*)


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23 August 2021

A new general allocation of Special Drawing Rights, SDRs, from the International Monetary Fund, IMF, becomes effective on 23 August. The SDR allocation is equivalent to 650 billion dollars (approximately SDR 456 billion). The purpose of the allocation is to support global foreign-exchange reserves.

The new SDRs are distributed to IMF member countries in proportion to their relative size in the IMF as measured by the countries' quotas. This means that will Denmark receive SDR 3.2 billion, equivalent to approximately kr. 29 billion. Denmark's SDR holdings are included in Danmarks Nationalbank's foreign-exchange reserve, which therefore increases by approximately kr. 29 billion when the allocation becomes effective.

The new allocation increases Denmark's net cumulative SDR holdings to SDR 4.8 billion (kr. 44 billion).

What is the SDR?

The SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF to supplement the official reserves of its member countries. The SDR is not a currency, but a potential claim on the freely usable currencies of IMF member countries, which means that SDRs can be exchanged into hard currency. The SDR is calculated on the basis of a basket of five currencies: US dollars, euro, Chinese renminbi, Japanese yen and pounds sterling.

The latest SDR allocation became effective in 2009 and increased the existing volume of outstanding SDRs to SDR 204 billion.

The IMF promotes global economic and financial stability. Read more about the IMF's coronavirus crisis management and Denmark's support in this analysis from February 2021.

Read more about Danmarks Nationalbank's financial accounts with the IMF and Denmark's SDR holdings in this analysis from 2017.

Enquiries can be directed to press advisor Ole Mikkelsen on tel. +45 3363 6027.

*) Compared to the original press release, Denmarks allocation has been changede from SDR 3.2 billion to SDR 3.3 billlion, equivalent to approximately kr. 30 billion. Similarly, Denmark's net cumulative SDR holdings have been changed from SDR 4.7 billion to SDR 4.8 billion (kr. 44 billion).