Reserves and the international monetary system  Over the past decade international reserve holdings have become increasingly concentrated in the hands of emerging market countries, and have grown well above traditional “precautionary” norms (e.g., in terms of months of imports or as a ratio to short-term external debt).
As well, global reserves have remained concentrated in a few currencies, particularly the US dollar, whose share in global reserve assets far exceeds the share of the US in the global economy. These developments are a symptom of unsolved problems in the underlying international monetary system (IMS).