International Monetary Fund, IMF

Bild på IMF byggnaden

Members

The organisation currently has 184 member countries.

 

Mandate/mission

The main emphasis of the IMF’s work is currently on measures to prevent and in some cases manage international financial crises. The IMF has three operational instruments at its disposal: monitoring of member countries’ economies, conditional lending and providing technical assistance.


The IMF’s most important task is to regularly monitor economic developments in the member countries. The IMF provides member countries with advice on macro economic policy and financial reforms. When international crises occur – despite the preventive measures taken – it is necessary to manage them. The IMF’s role then entails providing advice on how the economy can be improved, providing financial support to the countries afflicted on condition that they follow the advice and that they can use the lending facilities offered by other international organisations (primarily the World Bank), countries and private operators (mainly banks). In recent years, the IMF has taken part in and coordinated major financial efforts to counteract and try to solve several international crises for instance in Asia, Latin America, Russia and Turkey. 

 

Brief history

The International Monetary Fund was formed in 1944 to promote trade and growth by encouraging international monetary cooperation and financial stability. The purpose was to avoid a repeat of the protectionist policy that severely curtailed the international cooperation and led to a dramatic decline in trade, production and employment in the 1930s.

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LAST UPDATED 12/9/2005 
 Content expert Picture on a letter General Secretariat