Member's Quota in IMF
Quota represents the subscription by a member country to the capital fund of the IMF. Quotas are fixed for each country, taking into account such factors as the country's national income, reserves, export variability and the ratio of exports to national income. Apart from representing the subscription of a country to the IMF, the quota also forms the basis for determining its drawing rights from the IMF, its voting power and share in the allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). Twenty five per cent of a country's quota is to be contributed in the form of SDRs or foreign exchange and 75 per cent in the country's own currency. Quotas are reviewed by the IMF at periods of not more than five years. Since its inception, with initial size of quotas placed of about $7.5 billion for 40 member-countries, including India, the total quota of the Fund presently stands at SDRs 212.6 billion (about $310 billion). The largest share of 17.5 per cent belongs to the USA, while the smallest share belongs to Palau (0.001 per cent). Each country's voting power is the sum of its "basic votes" and its quota-based votes. Each IMF member has 250 basic votes plus one additional vote for each SDR 1,00,000 of quota. Each member's quota is the most fundamental element in its financial relationship with the IMF. It determines the amount of financing it can receive from the IMF and its share in SDR allocations.