Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries'official reserves.Its value is based on a basket of four key international currencies,and SDRs can be exchanged for freely usable currencies.With a general SDR allocation taking effect on August 28 and a special allocation on September 9,2009,the amount of SDRs will increase from SDR 21.4 billion to SDR 204.1 billion (currently equivalent to about $317 billion).Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries’ official reserves. Its value is based on a basket of four key international currencies, and SDRs can be exchanged for freely usable currencies. With a general SDR allocation taking effect on August 28 and a special allocation on September 9, 2009, the amount of SDRs will increase from SDR 21.4 billion to SDR 204.1 billion (currently equivalent to about $317 billion)