WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - The International

Monetary Fund on Wednesday announced that its executive board

has approved members to use their Special Drawing Rights (SDRs),

or IMF reserve assets, to acquire hybrid capital instruments

issued by multilateral development banks.

The IMF said the board's decision on May 10, should help

broaden the use of SDRs, while increasing the attractiveness of

the SDR as a reserve asset.

It comes as the IMF and other international financial

institutions are under pressure to increase resources available

to help developing countries and emerging markets grapple with

rising global challenges, such as climate and food security.

The IMF's board set a cumulative limit of $20 billion for

such use of SDRS to address possible liquidity risks, and said

it would review the new usage of SDRs once member contributions

surpassed $13.2 billion, or in two years, whichever came first.