About the IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.

Overview
The IMF works to foster global growth and economic stability. It provides policy advice and financing to members in economic difficulties and also works with developing nations to help them achieve macroeconomic stability and reduce poverty.

What IMF do
The IMF promotes international monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability, facilitates the balanced growth of international trade, and provides resources to help members in balance of payments difficulties or to assist with poverty reduction.

Membership
The IMF has 187 member countries. It is a specialized agency of the United Nations but has its own charter, governing structure, and finances. Its members are represented through a quota system broadly based on their relative size in the global economy.

How IMF do it
Through its economic surveillance, the IMF keeps track of the economic health of its member countries, alerting them to risks on the horizon and providing policy advice. It also lends to countries in difficulty, and provides technical assistance and training to help countries improve economic management. This work is backed by IMF research and statistics.

Collaborating with others

The IMF works with other international organizations to promote growth and poverty reduction. It also interacts with think tanks, civil society, and the media on a daily basis.

Organization & Finances

The IMF has a management team and 17 departments that carry out its country, policy, analytical, and technical work. One department is charged with managing the IMF's resources. This section also explains where the IMF gets its resources and how they are used.

Management
The IMF has a Managing Director, who is head of the staff and Chairman of the Executive Board. The Managing Director is assisted by a First Deputy Managing Director and three other Deputy Managing Directors.

Staff of international civil servants

The IMF's employees come from all over the world; they are responsible to the IMF and not to the authorities of the countries of which they are citizens. The IMF staff is organized mainly into area; functional; and information, liaison, and support responsibilities.

Quotas
The IMF's resources come mainly from the money that countries pay as their capital subscription when they become members.

Special Drawing Rights

The IMF's resources come mainly from the money that countries pay as their capital subscription when they become members.

Gold
The IMF also has some of the largest official holders of gold in the world.

Borrowing arrangements
The IMF keeps track of its future ability tolend by monitoring its one-year forward commitment capacity, which gives an indication of resources available for lending.

History
The IMF has played a part in shaping the global economy since the end of World War II.

Cooperation and reconstruction (194471)

As the Second World War ends, the job of rebuilding national economies begins. The IMF is charged with overseeing the international monetary system to ensure exchange rate stability and encouraging members to eliminate exchange restrictions that hinder trade.

The end of the Bretton Woods System (197281)

After the system of fixed exchange rates collapses in 1971, countries are free to choose their exchange arrangement. Oil shocks occur in 197374 and 1979, and the IMF steps in to help countries deal with the consequences.

Debt and painful reforms (198289)

The oil shocks lead to an international debt crisis, and the IMF assists in coordinating the global response.

Societal Change for Eastern Europe and Asian Upheaval (19902004)

The IMF plays a central role in helping the countries of the former Soviet bloc transition from central planning to market-driven economies.

Globalization and the Crisis (2005 - present)

The implications of the continued rise of capital flows for economic policy and the stability of the international financial system are still not entirely clear. The current credit crisis and the food and oil price shock are clear signs that new challenges for the IMF are waiting just around the corner.

Governance
The IMF is accountable to the governments of its member countries.

Governance Structure
The IMF's mandate and governance have evolved along with changes in the global economy, allowing the organization to retain a central role within the international financial architecture.

Country Representation
Unlike the General Assembly of the United Nations, where each country has one vote, decision making at the IMF was designed to reflect the position of each member country in the global economy. Each

IMF member country is assigned a quota that determines its financial commitment to the IMF, as well as its voting power.

Accountability
The IMF is accountable to its 187 member governments, and is also scrutinized by multiple stakeholders, from political leaders and officials to, the media, civil society, academia, and its own internal watchdog. The IMF, in turn, encourages its own members to be as open as possible about their economic policies to encourage their accountability and transparency.

Work of IMF
The IMF's fundamental mission is to help ensure stability in the international system. It does so in three ways: keeping track of the global economy and the economies of member countries; lending to countries with balance of payments difficulties; and giving practical help to members.

Surveillance
The IMF oversees the international monetary system and monitors the financial and economic policies of its members. It keeps track of economic developments on a national, regional, and global basis, consulting regularly with member countries and providing them with macroeconomic and financial policy advice.

Technical Assistance
To assist mainly low- and middle-income countries in effectively managing their economies, the IMF provides practical guidance and training on how to upgrade institutions, and design appropriate macroeconomic, financial, and structural policies.

Lending
The IMF provides loans to countries that have trouble meeting their international payments and cannot otherwise find sufficient financing on affordable terms. This financial assistance is designed to help countries restore macroeconomic stability by rebuilding their international reserves, stabilizing their currencies, and paying for importsall necessary conditions for relaunching growth. The IMF also provides concessional loans to low-income countries to help them develop their economies and reduce poverty.