International Monetary Fund(imf)

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international Economic organization.Its main purpose is to oversee global financial health and provide assistance when needed to its members.
• The major countries of Europe and America control the IMF. This is because they have given more money to IMF by way of first subscriptions, and so have larger share of voting rights.

Formation of IMF:

It was created on July 22, 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference and came into existence on December 27, 1945 when 29 countries signed the Articles of Agreement.

Headquarters:

It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., USA.

Membership:

1) The IMF describes itself as “an organization of 188 countries (as of April 2012), working to foster global
monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty.”

2) All members of the IMF are also International Bank for Reconstruction and Development(IBRD) members and vice versa.

Benefits to member countries:

Member countries of the IMF have access to information on the economic policies of all member countries, the opportunity to influence other members’ economic policies, technical assistance in banking, fiscal affairs, and exchange matters, financial support in times of payment difficulties, and increased opportunities for trade and investment.

IMF's stated goal and objectives:

1) The IMF's stated goal was to stabilize exchange rates and assist the reconstruction of the world’s international payment system post-World War II.

2) The organization's stated objectives are to promote international economic cooperation, international trade, employment, and exchange rate stability, including by making financial resources available to member countries to meet balance of payments needs.

Functions:

 The IMF does a number of supervisory works relating to financial dealings between different countries. Some of the works done by IMF are:

1) Helping in international trade, that is business between countries

2) Looking after exchange rates

3) Looking after balance of payments

4) Helping member countries in economic development

Leadership:

Board of Governors:

The Board of Governors consists of one governor and one alternate governor for each member country. Each member country appoints its two governors.

Executive Board:

24 Executive Directors make up Executive Board. The Executive Directors represent all 188 member-countries.

Managing Director:

The IMF is led by a Managing Director, who is head of the staff and serves as Chairman of the Executive Board.

         

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