The Present System of Reserve Creation in the Fund
Author:
Hannan Ezekiel
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Publication Date:
01 Jan 1966
eISBN:
9781451969108
Language:
English
Keywords:
SP; fund; center; deficit; balance of payments; payments imbalance; fund transaction; reserve creation; fund holding; tranche position; Reserve absorption; Currencies; Gold reserves
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IN THE COURSE of the Fund’s transactions, including those relating to the payment of member subscriptions, the members of the Fund acquire international reserves in the form of reserve positions in the Fund. Such reserve positions consist of (1) gold tranche positions and (2) creditor positions under the General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB) or similar arrangements. Use of both gold tranche positions and GAB creditor positions is virtually automatic under the Fund’s present policies. Reserve positions in the Fund, therefore, have the qualities of reserve assets. In fact, statistics of international reserves published in International Financial Statistics1 include these reserve positions in the Fund in the reserves of members. Thus, while the Fund’s primary role lies in the provision of conditional liquidity, it also provides reserves in the forms described above.

Abstract

IN THE COURSE of the Fund’s transactions, including those relating to the payment of member subscriptions, the members of the Fund acquire international reserves in the form of reserve positions in the Fund. Such reserve positions consist of (1) gold tranche positions and (2) creditor positions under the General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB) or similar arrangements. Use of both gold tranche positions and GAB creditor positions is virtually automatic under the Fund’s present policies. Reserve positions in the Fund, therefore, have the qualities of reserve assets. In fact, statistics of international reserves published in International Financial Statistics1 include these reserve positions in the Fund in the reserves of members. Thus, while the Fund’s primary role lies in the provision of conditional liquidity, it also provides reserves in the forms described above.

IN THE COURSE of the Fund’s transactions, including those relating to the payment of member subscriptions, the members of the Fund acquire international reserves in the form of reserve positions in the Fund. Such reserve positions consist of (1) gold tranche positions and (2) creditor positions under the General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB) or similar arrangements. Use of both gold tranche positions and GAB creditor positions is virtually automatic under the Fund’s present policies. Reserve positions in the Fund, therefore, have the qualities of reserve assets. In fact, statistics of international reserves published in International Financial Statistics1 include these reserve positions in the Fund in the reserves of members. Thus, while the Fund’s primary role lies in the provision of conditional liquidity, it also provides reserves in the forms described above.

The total of member reserve positions in the Fund is affected by a variety of transactions between the Fund and its members. However, the fund is so organized that the balance sheet of the Fund does not directly reflect the impact of these transactions on member reserves. Section I of this paper adjusts and rearranges the items in the Fund’s balance sheet so as to trace the origin of reserve positions in the Fund in a form similar to a monetary survey. It also explains the concept of net reserve creation. Section II describes the effects of various types of transaction on member reserves with reference to the adjusted balance sheet type of statement developed in Section I. Section III analyzes gross and net reserve creation in the Fund during 1951-65.

I. The Fund Balance Sheet and Reserve Creation

The effects of Fund transactions on the volume of member reserves can be analyzed most systematically by adjusting certain items in the Fund’s balance sheet. The Fund’s balance sheet is shown in Table 1, with illustrative data for April 30, 1966.

Table 1.

Balance Sheet of the Fund, April 30, 1966

(In millions of U.S. dollars)

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Source: International Monetary Fund, Annual Report, 1966. Note: Identical items appearing on both sides, such as subscriptions due from members, have been excluded. Occasional items, such as those showing relations with countries withdrawing from membership, have been excluded. However, the other assets or other liabilities items have been appropriately adjusted to take them into account. Advance payments of gold and currency subscriptions have been excluded from the liabilities side and also from the Fund’s gold and currency holdings on the assets side.

To bring out the effects of Fund transactions on member reserve positions in the Fund, we can remove the item “Subscriptions to capital not due” from the assets side and also deduct it from “Capital (quotas)” on the liabilities side to obtain total subscriptions of members. Both gold and currency subscriptions are included under this heading. Members for which the Fund’s holdings of currencies are above total subscription are clearly in a different position from those for which the Fund’s holdings of currencies are below subscription. Therefore, total subscriptions on the liabilities side and the Fund’s currency holdings on the assets side are divided into two parts each according to whether the members concerned are in the one or the other position. The total of subscriptions of members for which the Fund’s currency holdings are above their subscriptions is then eliminated from the liabilities side and is also deducted from the Fund’s holdings of the currencies of such members on the assets side to yield a total for “net credit tranche use” by members (Table 2). The Fund’s currency holdings for members for which such holdings are below their total subscriptions are eliminated from the assets side and also deducted from their total subscriptions on the liabilities side to give the total of members’ gold tranche positions in the Fund. The Fund’s indebtedness to members under GAB represents a reserve asset to such members. Renamed “Outstanding lendings to the Fund,” this item is grouped together with members’ “Gold tranche positions” under the heading “Member reserve positions in the Fund.” The statement which results when the balance sheet of the Fund is recast in this manner is presented in Table 3.

Table 2.

Derivation of Net Credit Tranche Use and Gold Tranche Positions of Fund Members, April 30, 1966

(In millions of U.S. dollars)

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Source: IFS, June 1966.
Table 3.

Reserve Creation by the Fund, April 30, 1966

(In millions of U.S. dollars)

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Sources: Tables 1 and 2.

In Table 3, three items appear on the liabilities side: “Member reserve positions in the Fund,” “Fund reserves,” and “Other liabilities.” As explained above, the first item consists of two parts: (a) “Gold tranche positions” of members—sum of the amounts by which the Fund’s holdings of individual member currencies are below 100 per cent of subscription, a sum which could be represented as

Σ ⁢   ( S − H )

for all cases in which S > H, where S=subscription of the member, and H=Fund’s holdings of the member’s currency; and (b) “Outstanding lendings to the Fund” from members.

On the left-hand side of Table 3 are five items. “Gold” represents gold held by the Fund in the form of special deposits with depositories designated by certain members; since it is earmarked as Fund gold, it does not form a part of the gold stock of the members concerned. “Gold deposits” are gold deposits made under paragraphs 20, 21, and 22 of the Report of the Executive Directors to the Board of Governors entitled “Increases in Quotas of Members—Fourth Quinquennial Review.” 2 Although these deposits are not earmarked as Fund gold, the member is under an obligation to make an equivalent amount of gold available to the Fund on the latter’s demand; therefore, they form a part of the Fund’s gold stock and also appear as part of the member’s gold stock. “Investments” are U.S. Government securities and funds awaiting investment obtained from proceeds of sale of gold. Upon termination of investment, the same quantity of gold can be reacquired. “Net credit tranche use” is the sum of the amounts by which the Fund’s holdings of individual member currencies exceed 100 per cent of subscription. In the terms used above in describing gold tranche positions, this could be represented as

Σ ⁢ ( H − S )

for all cases in which H > S. The fifth item, “Other assets,” includes all remaining assets.3

It will be noticed that whether a country has a gold tranche position in the Fund or has made net credit tranche use of the Fund depends on whether the Fund’s holdings of its currencies are less than or greater than its total subscription. The Fund’s holdings of a member’s currency are increased mainly by its currency subscription, by its own drawings, by repurchases in its currency made by other countries, by Fund sales of gold to it, and by Fund borrowing of its currency. The Fund’s holdings of a member’s currency are decreased mainly by repurchases of its own currency subscription, by repurchases of its currency to repay drawings, by drawings in its currency made by other countries, and by repayments of Fund borrowings if these are made in its currency. However, Fund holdings of a member’s currency are also affected by the Fund’s income and expenditure transactions carried out in that currency,4 as well as by repurchases of any Fund holdings resulting from such transactions. These transactions, though usually small in amount, have necessarily to be taken into account, as is done in obtaining the figures of Fund currency holdings in IFS Table I.

Table 3 brings out clearly the factors determining the total amount of reserve creation by the Fund in the form of reserve positions in the Fund. Attention can be even more clearly focused on these factors if the balance sheet presented is rearranged so as to show the origin of reserve positions in the Fund in a form similar to a monetary survey. In rearranging the items, Fund reserves and other liabilities on the right-hand side of Table 3 and other assets from the left-hand side can be combined into one item, “accumulated surpluses, etc.” as in Table 4. Table 4 shows that the total of reserve positions in the Fund is equal to the sum of the three gold items plus “Net credit tranche use” minus “accumulated surpluses, etc.” It is thus evident that reserve positions in the Fund arise partly from members’ use of their conditional drawing rights in the Fund, net credit tranche use being one measure of this use.

Table 4.

Origin of Reserve Positions in the Fund, April 30, 1966

(In millions of U.S. dollars)

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Sources: Table 3.

Fund transactions may affect member reserves not only by changing member reserve positions in the Fund but also by absorbing gold from them or distributing it to them. Gross reserve creation by the Fund in the form of reserve positions must therefore be reduced by the amount of the reserve absorption by the Fund from members in the form of gold to obtain the net amount of reserve creation by the Fund.

One of the transactions which affect the amount of gold held by the Fund is a member’s payment of its gold subscription in connection with a new or expanded quota. Normally, a member making such a subscription acquires an equal reserve position in the Fund. This amount of gross reserve creation can therefore be said to have resulted from conversion of one form of that member’s reserves (namely, gold) into another form (namely, reserve positions in the Fund). In other words, since the reserve absorption by the Fund is equal to the amount of conversion in this particular transaction, net reserve creation by the Fund resulting from it is nil. However, over any period of time, reserve absorption by the Fund is not necessarily equal to the amount of conversion, since other transactions—such as gold sales or the making of gold deposits—also affect the volume of reserve absorption by the Fund. The amount of conversion by the Fund of gold into reserve positions is only of historical interest. It is the amount of reserve (i.e., gold) absorption at any time or over any period which is of analytical significance because it influences the amount of net reserve creation by the Fund. Such reserve absorption by the Fund is represented by the gold received by the Fund from members in various ways and not added back to their reserves in one form or another.

To obtain the amount of net reserve creation by the Fund, it is necessary to deduct such Fund gold holdings from the total member reserve positions in the Fund. Of the three gold items on the assets side of the table, only the first item, “Gold,” represents absorption of reserves by the Fund. Both the Fund’s gold investments and the gold deposits add to the gold reserves of members without producing offsetting changes in the Fund’s holdings of the currencies of those members. That is why, though such gold investments and gold deposits continue to appear under the gold account in the Fund’s balance sheet, they can no longer be taken as representing absorption of member reserves by the Fund. Therefore, net reserve creation by the Fund is equal to member reserve positions in the Fund minus the Fund’s “Gold.”

Table 4 can be rearranged to show the factors affecting net reserve creation in the Fund, as in Table 5. Table 5 shows that net reserve creation in the Fund is equal to the sum of “Gold deposits,” “Investments,” and “Net credit tranche use” minus “accumulated surpluses, etc.” It is easy to see that a gold subscription by a member which acquires an equivalent gold tranche position in exchange cannot affect net reserve creation in the Fund. This is because the increase in gross reserve creation (or reserve positions in the Fund) is offset by an equal increase in the Fund’s gold holdings, so that none of the items in the upper portion of Table 5 are affected.

Table 5.

Factors Affecting Net Reserve Creation in the Fund, April 30, 1966

{In millions of U.S. dollars)

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Sources: Table 4.

II. Effects of Fund Transactions on Member Reserves

The effects of various Fund transactions on reserve creation by the Fund can be studied from the statements in Tables 3 and 4. Whenever a transaction leads to an increase or a decrease in total assets and therefore total liabilities, except when this arises out of or is reflected in a change in the Fund’s reserves or other liabilities, there is a corresponding change in the gross creation of reserves by the Fund. Such changes may arise out of a change in the Fund’s gold stock or in net credit tranche use on the assets side of the statement, which is reflected in a corresponding change in member reserve positions in the Fund on the liabilities side. Fund transactions may not produce any changes in the gross volume of reserves created by the Fund, but merely offsetting changes among the other items. In contrast to gross reserve creation by the Fund, net reserve creation may be affected even (1) when a transaction produces only a redistribution of Fund assets, as when there is a transfer of Fund gold to gold deposits, or (2) when a change in Fund assets is reflected only in Fund reserves or in other liabilities, as when charges are received by the Fund in gold.

Most of the transactions of the Fund have more than one element. Thus, when a member makes a drawing, not only do the Fund’s holdings of that member’s currency increase, but the Fund’s holdings of the currencies making up the drawing decrease at the same time. The impact of the transaction on reserve positions in the Fund clearly depends on the positions of the different members involved in the transaction. Each element of the transaction may be separately considered. Thus, for the member making the drawing, the effect of the drawing is either to reduce its gold tranche position or to increase its net credit tranche use (or a combination of the two), depending on its initial position. The impact of the drawing on the member whose currency is drawn is either to increase its gold tranche position or to reduce its credit tranche use. The net effect depends on the positions of both members. Again, a Fund sale of gold to a member would reduce the Fund’s gold stock and increase the Fund’s holdings of that member’s currency, thus presumably reducing its gold tranche position. If such a sale is made in order to permit the use of that currency in a drawing, the effect of that drawing would also have to be taken into consideration in order to work out the net impact of the transaction as a whole. Similarly, Fund borrowing from a member would increase that member’s outstanding lending to the Fund but would at the same time increase the Fund’s holdings of that currency and thus reduce that country’s gold tranche position. However, the use of that currency in a drawing (for which purpose the Fund presumably borrowed the currency) would increase that country’s gold tranche position once again.

The effects of various transactions are shown in some detail in Table 6, which is an enlarged version of Table 3 and also includes a separate column showing the effect of each type of transaction on net reserve creation in the Fund. Differences between the gross and net reserve effects of Fund transactions are found in every transaction involving gold.5 Consider the transaction when the Fund sells gold to obtain Currency B for meeting a gold tranche drawing by Country A (line 1(d)). The table shows that this operation produces a contraction of gross reserves created by the Fund. The gold sold by the Fund, however, would appear in the reserves of Country B so that the sum of the reserves of A and B outside the Fund would be higher to that extent. Thus, there would be an expansion of reserves outside the Fund equal to the contraction of gross reserves created by the Fund, so that the net impact of this transaction would be nil. This result is confirmed if the net reserve creation of the Fund, as defined earlier, is calculated by deducting the change in the Fund’s gold deposits (a negative amount) from the gross reserve creation as shown in the totals.

Table 6.

Effects of Fund Transactions

(Each transaction for US$100 million)

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Gross reserve creation is shown in column 15; net reserve creation (column 18) = column 15 — column 1.

Net credit tranche use changes by +100 for Country A and –100 for Country B, producing the aggregate effect shown.

Another type of situation is to be found in the transaction when the Fund obtains the currency needed to meet a credit tranche drawing by the sale of gold (line II (d)). Here the gross reserve creation is nil, but from a consideration of the impact of this transaction on member reserves outside the Fund, it can be seen that the over-all impact is positive. Again, that result is confirmed when the net reserve creation by the Fund is calculated on the basis of the definition given earlier.

In some ways, Tables 3 through 6 present a banking picture of the Fund’s operations. Gross and net reserve creation by the Fund as reflected in these tables correspond to gross and net creation of money by a bank. While net money creation by the banking system in any country corresponds to the total impact of that system on money supply in that country, net reserve creation by the Fund does not always correspond to the total impact of Fund transactions on world reserves. The reason is that while the money supply in a country consists only of currency and the deposit liabilities of banks, the international reserves of members do not consist only of gold and member reserve positions in the Fund but also include liabilities of other members, especially the reserve centers. Therefore, no statement expressed purely in terms of the Fund can show the indirect effects of Fund transactions on member reserves that result from the policies of members relating to the holding of reserve currencies in their reserves. This paper is not concerned with these effects of Fund transactions.

Unlike the balance sheet of a bank, Table 3 does not provide a picture of the Fund’s liquidity. To provide such a picture, it would be necessary to take into account, in addition to the Fund’s gold holdings, its holdings of usable currencies, its access to credit facilities, and such indications as might be given as to the extent to which the Fund might have to meet members’ drawings. Without suggesting here how (or whether) a statistical statement of the Fund’s liquidity could be presented, it is clear that any attempt to present the reserve creating and liquidity aspects of Fund transactions in a single statement would present insuperable difficulties. Tables 3 through 6, therefore, present a picture of reserve creation by the Fund without claiming to throw any light on the liquidity of the Fund itself.

III. Reserve Creation in the Fund, 1951–65

As has been explained in Section I above, reserve positions in the Fund consist of (1) gold tranche positions and (2) creditor positions under GAB and similar arrangements. Creditor positions under GAB have come into existence only since December 1964, when the Fund borrowed for the first time under GAB. GAB itself dates only from 1962. However, gold tranche positions, defined as the excess of the total subscription of a member over the Fund’s holdings of that member’s currency (provided that member is entitled to draw on the Fund), have been in existence since the beginning of the Fund, even if these positions did not always have the characteristics which would have justified their inclusion in the international reserves of members. Many members still do not include their reserve positions in the Fund in their own measures of their international reserves. For a historical study of Fund transactions, it is possible to treat the sums of gold tranche positions and creditor positions under GAB as if they are and always were international reserves irrespective of their actual treatment by the members themselves or even by the Fund at the relevant time.6 This is what is done in this paper for the period 1951-65.

The distinction between gross and net reserve creation in the Fund has been explained in Section I. Both gross and net reserve creation in the Fund can be considered in terms of the cumulative totals at the end of each period. Table 7 shows cumulative gross and net reserve creation in the Fund at the end of each year over the period 1951-65. These data are presented in Chart 1. Table 8, directly derived from Table 7, shows annual changes in gross and net reserve creation in the Fund during 1952-65. These annual changes are presented in Chart 2.

Chart 1.
Chart 1.

Cumulative Gross and Net Reserve Creation in the Fund, End of Year 1952-65

(In billions of U.S. dollars)

Citation: IMF Staff Papers 1966, 003; 10.5089/9781451969108.024.A002

Table 7.

Gross and Net Reserve Creation in the Fund: Cumulative Totals, End of Year 1951-65

(In millions of US. dollars)

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Source: IFS.

Some figures reflect differences due to rounding.

Table 8.

Gross and Net Reserve Creation in the Fund: Annual Changes, 1952-65

(In millions of US. dollars)

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Source: Table 7.
Chart 2.
Chart 2.

Annual Changes in Gross and Net Reserve Creation in the Fund, 1952-65

(In billions of U.S. dollars)

Citation: IMF Staff Papers 1966, 003; 10.5089/9781451969108.024.A002

It is clear from Chart 1 that gross and net reserve creation in the Fund have tended generally but not always to move together over the period. This is brought out even more clearly in Chart 2. It is apparent from Chart 2 also that years of increases in cumulative reserve creation in the Fund, both gross and net, have tended to be followed by years of decreases in such reserve creation. The increases, particularly since 1955, have been larger and have persisted over longer periods than the decreases. As a result, as Chart 1 brings out, the long-term trend in cumulative totals of gross and net reserve creation has been upward.

In studying the movements of cumulative gross and net reserve creation in the Fund, it is necessary first to exclude the year 1965. The sharp increases that took place in these totals during this year, which occurs at the end of the period under review, were clearly due to the substantial U.K. drawing and will be offset by its repayment in due course. To include this year would give an upward bias to the trend for the period. Both the totals, of course, may continue to increase after 1965 as a result of the quota increases effected from 1966, but these changes can be studied only after some years have passed. Second, it is necessary to take special note of the difference in the behavior of both gross and net reserve creation over the periods before and after 1955. This difference could result to some extent from the differences in world economic conditions during the two periods. It is clear, however, that changes in Fund policy on drawings by members, whether such changes were consciously adoped or not, also played a part. Third, since the volume of drawings from the Fund depends in some measure on the size of total Fund quotas, it is necessary to take account of the substantial general quota increases that occurred about 1959. In the light of these facts, it is useful to split the period under review, excluding 1965, into three unequal subperiods: 1951-55, 1956-58, and 1959-64. The average levels of the cumulative totals of gross and net reserve creation during these three periods are shown in Table 9 and are represented by horizontal lines at the appropriate levels in Chart 1.

Table 9.

Average Levels of Cumulative Gross and Net Reserve Creation in the Fund, Selected Periods 1951-64

(In millions of US. dollars)

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Source: Table 7.

A better picture of the long-term tendency for cumulative totals of gross and net reserve creation in the Fund to increase over time can be obtained by fitting a trend line to the data for the period. For the reasons already explained, 1965 is excluded for this purpose. The first of the three subperiods listed earlier, namely 1951-55, is also excluded, since it is clear that there was, for various reasons, no general tendency for reserve creation in the Fund to increase until 1956. As the data represent cumulative totals at the end of each year, it is necessary to include the figures for 1955; these represent in a sense the base from which the long-term increase has taken place since then. Trend lines were therefore fitted to the data for the period 1955-64. The trend lines for reserve positions in the Fund or gross reserve creation in the Fund (Rg) and net reserve creation in the Fund (Rn) for this period were found to have the following equations:

                  R g = 1 , 702 + 2171 ⁢ t R n = 240 + 180 ⁢   ⁢ t

where t=1, 2, 3, … 10, and t1=1955. These trend lines show that the cumulative totals increased on average by US$271 million a year for gross reserve creation in the Fund and by $180 million for net reserve creation.

It has been pointed out earlier that net reserve creation in the Fund is calculated by deducting the Fund’s gold holdings from the amount of gross reserve creation in the Fund. The justification for doing this is that the amount of the Fund’s gold holdings represents a reduction in member gold holdings that acts as a partial offset to the amount of cumulative gross reserve creation in the Fund. As the Fund’s gold investments (and gold deposits when these are made) do not represent such a reduction in member reserves, these are not deducted from the amount of gross reserve creation in calculating net reserve creation. Some part of the net reserve creation thus represents the effect on member reserves of Fund decisions to make gold investments or deposits in member countries. Since such decisions are not made in connection with the normal transactions of the Fund but are special decisions taken in special circumstances, it may be useful to exclude them from consideration and study separately the amount of net reserve creation that results from the more normal transactions of the Fund.

Table 10 shows cumulative totals of net reserve creation in the Fund, Fund investments, and the difference between these two. This difference may be called adjusted net reserve creation in the Fund. The data represent cumulative totals at the end of each year over the period 1951-65. A graph of these is presented in Chart 3.

Table 10.

Net Reserve Creation in the Fund and Net Credit Tranche Use: Cumulative Totals, End of Year 1951-65

(In millions of U.S. dollars)

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Sources: Table 7 and IFS.
Chart 3.
Chart 3.

Cumulative Adjusted Net Reserve Creation in the Fund and Net Credit Tranche Use, End of Year 1951-65

(In billions of U.S. dollars)

Citation: IMF Staff Papers 1966, 003; 10.5089/9781451969108.024.A002

The graph of the data for cumulative adjusted net reserve creation in the Fund has the same general characteristics as that of cumulative net reserve creation, but diverges from it beginning in 1956, when the first gold investment of US$200 million was made. A trend line was fitted to the data for cumulative adjusted net reserve creation; for the reasons explained earlier, the period covered by the trend line was 1955-64. It was found to have the following equation:

R a ⁢ =   280 + 80 ⁢ t

where t=1, 2, 3, … 10, and t1=1955. Cumulative adjusted net reserve creation in the Fund rose on average by $80 million a year over the period, compared with average increases of $180 million a year in cumulative net reserve creation and $271 million in cumulative gross reserve creation over the same period.

Since adjusted net reserve creation is obtained by deducting both gold and gold investments from gross reserve creation in the Fund, it is clear that variations in adjusted net reserve creation should correspond closely to those of net credit tranche use.7 Data for cumulative net credit tranche use, given in column 4 of Table 10, are presented in Chart 3. A glance at the table and at the chart is enough to show that the two quantities do in fact move closely together. This relationship between adjusted net reserve creation in the Fund and net credit tranche use is brought out even more clearly when the annual changes in the two figures are compared, as in Table 11 and Chart 4. Particular caution must be exercised in interpreting this result; there is nothing to suggest that in the absence of the gold investment made by the Fund during this period, net reserve creation would in fact have followed the same pattern as adjusted net reserve creation did over the period.

Chart 4.
Chart 4.

Annual Changes in Gross and Net Reserve Creation in the Fund and Net Credit Tranche Use, 1952-65

(In billions of U.S. dollars)

Citation: IMF Staff Papers 1966, 003; 10.5089/9781451969108.024.A002

Table 11.

Net Reserve Creation in the Fund and Net Credit Tranche Use: Annual Changes, 1952-65

(In millions of U.S. dollars)

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Source: Table 10.

Le système actuel de création de réserves au Fonds

Résumé

Au cours des transactions qu’effectue le Fonds, ses membres acquièrent des réeserves internationales sous forme de positions de réserves au FMI. Celles-ci consistent en 1) positions de tranche-or et 2) positions créditrices des pays membres dans le cadre des Accords Généraux d’Emprunt ou d’accords semblables. Le total des positions de réserves des membres au Fonds est influencé par diverses transactions entre le Fonds et ses membres. La comptabilité du Fonds est cependant organisée de telle manière que son bilan ne traduit pas directement l’incidence de ces transactions sur les réserves des pays membres.

Dans la première partie de cet article, les postes du bilan du Fonds sont ajustés et présentés de façon à faire apparaître l’origine des positions de réserves au Fonds, de la même manière qu’une situation monétaire. D’apres cette présentation, l’or plus les dépôts d’or plus les placements plus l’utilisation nette des tranches de crédit moins les excédents cumulés, etc., égalent la position de réserves des membres au Fonds. Etant donné que les avoirs en or du Fonds représentent des réserves des pays membres absorbées par le Fonds, la création brute de réserves sous forme de positions de réserves doit etre diminuée du montant de ces avoirs en or pour obtenir la création nette de réserves au Fonds. II s’ensuit que les dépôts d’or plus les placements plus l’utilisation nette des tranches de crédit moins les excédents cumulés, etc., égalent la création nette de réserves au Fonds.

Dans la deuxième partie, les effets de diverses transactions effectuées par le Fonds sur la création brute et nette de réserves sont calculés d’après une version élargie du bilan ajusté du Fonds élaboré dans la première partie. On constate des différences entre les effets de création brute et nette de réserves dans chaque transaction où l’or joue un rôle.

On trouvera dans la troisième partie une étude de la création brute et nette de réserves au Fonds au cours de la période allant de 1951 à 1965.

El sistema actual de creación de reservas en el Fondo

Resumen

En el curso de las transacciones del Fondo, los países miembros adquieren reservas internacionales en forma de posiciones de reserva en dicho organismo. Estas consisten en: (1) las posiciones del tramo de oro, y (2) las posiciones acreedoras resultantes de transacciones efectuadas conforme a los Acuerdos Generales para la Obtención de Préstamos, o a arreglos semejantes. En el total de las posiciones de reserva que los países miembros tienen en el Fondo, influye una variada gama de transacciones que tienen lugar entre éste y sus miembros. Sin embargo, las cuentas del Fondo están organizadas de tal manera que su balance no refleja directamente el impacto que esas transacciones ejercen sobre las reservas de los países que lo integran.

En la Parte I de este trabajo, las partidas del balance del Fondo se ordenan y reclasifican a fin de indicar el origen de las posiciones de reserva en el Fondo, en forma parecida a la de un análisis monetario. Se muestra que el oro, más los depósitos en oro, más las inversiones, más el uso neto de los tramos de crédito, menos los superávit acumulados, etc., es igual a las posiciones de reserva de sus miembros. Como las tenencias de oro del Fondo representan las reservas de los países miembros que éste ha absorbido, hay que deducir de la creación bruta de reservas constituida en forma de posiciones de reserva, la cuantía de esas tenencias en oro, a fin de obtener la creación neta de reservas en dicho organismo. De esto se desprende, que los depósitos en oro, más las inversiones, máas el uso de los tramos de crédito, menos los superávit acumulados, etc., es igual a la creación neta de reservas en el Fondo.

En la Parte II se calculan los efectos que las diversas transacciones del Fondo surten en la creación bruta y neta de reservas, tomando como base la versión ampliada del balance ajustado del Fondo, elaborada en la Parte I. Puede verse que cada vez que el oro forma parte de las transacciones, existen diferencias entre los efectos de creación bruta y neta de reservas.

En la Parte III se realiza un estudio de la creación bruta y neta de reservas en el Fondo, durante el período 1951-65.

*

Mr. Ezekiel, Assistant Chief of the Special Studies Division in the Research and Statistics Department, is a graduate of the University of Bombay. He taught economics at St. Xavier’s College, Bombay, and at the University of Bombay, and was Financial Editor of The Economic Times. He has contributed a number of articles to economic journals and is the author of The Pattern of Investment and Economic Development, to be published shortly by the University of Bombay.

1

Hereafter cited as IFS.

2

International Monetary Fund, Annual Report, 1965, Appendix I, C.

3

Most of these items can be calculated from data presented in Table 1 of IFS. As this table appears at present (IFS issue of June 1966), gold tranche positions are equal to column 2 + column 3 — column 9 when the result is positive, for those countries which have drawing rights. Fund borrowings from members are shown in column 4. Member reserve positions in the Fund, which are equal to the sum of gold tranche positions and Fund borrowings from members are directly shown in column 11. It follows that gold tranche positions can also be obtained as column 11 — column 4. Net credit tranche use is equal to column 9 — column 2 — column 3 when the result is positive.

4

E.g., payment by a member of Fund charges in its own currency.

5

Lines 1(d); 11(d); 111(b); IV(b); V(d); and VI(a), (b), (c), (e), and (f) in Table 4.

6

The definition of gold tranche positions given earlier in the paragraph ensures that countries not legally entitled to draw, e.g., because they had neither declared par values for their currencies nor been exempted from having to do so, are not credited with a gold tranche position, whatever the result of a mechanical calculation might be.

7

Briefly, gross reserve creation is equal to Fund gold holdings plus Fund gold deposits and investments plus net credit tranche use minus other liabilities, etc. Adjusted net reserve creation has been defined as gross reserve creation minus Fund gold holdings minus Fund gold deposits and investments. Therefore, adjusted net reserve creation is equal to net credit tranche use minus other liabilities, etc.

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Cover IMF Staff Papers
IMF Staff papers: Volume 13 No. 3
Author:
International Monetary Fund. Research Dept.
Volume/Issue:
Volume 1966: Issue 003
Publisher:
International Monetary Fund
ISBN:
9781451969108
ISSN:
1020-7635
Pages:
166
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451969108.024
  • Chart 1.
    View in gallery
    Chart 1.

    Cumulative Gross and Net Reserve Creation in the Fund, End of Year 1952-65

    (In billions of U.S. dollars)

  • Chart 2.
    View in gallery
    Chart 2.

    Annual Changes in Gross and Net Reserve Creation in the Fund, 1952-65

    (In billions of U.S. dollars)

  • Chart 3.
    View in gallery
    Chart 3.

    Cumulative Adjusted Net Reserve Creation in the Fund and Net Credit Tranche Use, End of Year 1951-65

    (In billions of U.S. dollars)

  • Chart 4.
    View in gallery
    Chart 4.

    Annual Changes in Gross and Net Reserve Creation in the Fund and Net Credit Tranche Use, 1952-65

    (In billions of U.S. dollars)

Chart 1.

Cumulative Gross and Net Reserve Creation in the Fund, End of Year 1952-65

(In billions of U.S. dollars)
Chart 2.

Annual Changes in Gross and Net Reserve Creation in the Fund, 1952-65

(In billions of U.S. dollars)
Chart 3.

Cumulative Adjusted Net Reserve Creation in the Fund and Net Credit Tranche Use, End of Year 1951-65

(In billions of U.S. dollars)
Chart 4.

Annual Changes in Gross and Net Reserve Creation in the Fund and Net Credit Tranche Use, 1952-65

(In billions of U.S. dollars)