The IMF provides financial assistance to a member from its general resources by selling that member the currencies of other members or SDRs. The member purchases (draws) other members’ currencies or SDRs with an equivalent amount in its own currency, which it is required to repurchase with SDRs or usable currencies after a specified period of time. For this reason, the IMF’s Articles of Agreement do not use the terminology of “loans” (or “credits”) and “repayments” but refer instead to purchases and repurchases.27 The IMF’s assistance to members does not reduce the combined total of its holdings of currencies and SDRs, although it changes its composition.
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