beijing yesterday threw down a challenge to america ' s 50 - year dominance of the global economy as it proposed combining the dollar as the country ' s main reserve currency with a new global mechanism under the oversight of the international monetary fund . in a muscle - flexing decision that will be read as an effort to exploit the major shift in economic power made by the recession sweeping the us , beijing said that the dollar ' s function could eventually be brought over by the imf ' s so - called national draws right ( flatulence ) , a semi - currency that was created in 1969 .
The Special Drawing Right is a quasi-currency.