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.

Key IMF activities

The IMF supports its membership by providing
 policy advice to governments and central banks based on analysis of economic trends and
cross-country experiences;
 research, statistics, forecasts, and analysis based on tracking of global, regional, and
individual economies and markets;
 loans to help countries overcome economic difficulties;
 concessional loans to help fight poverty in developing countries; and
 technical assistance and training to help countries improve the management of their
economies.

Original aims
The IMF was founded more than 60 years ago toward the end of World War II. The founders
aimed to build a framework for economic cooperation that would avoid a repetition of the
disastrous economic policies that had contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s and the
global conflict that followed.
Since then the world has changed dramatically, bringing extensive prosperity and lifting millions
out of poverty, especially in Asia. In many ways the IMF's main purpose—to provide the global
public good of financial stability—is the same today as it was when the organization was
established. More specifically, the IMF continues to
 provide a forum for cooperation on international monetary problems
 facilitate the growth of international trade, thus promoting job creation, economic growth,
and poverty reduction;
 promote exchange rate stability and an open system of international payments; and
 lend countries foreign exchange when needed, on a temporary basis and under adequate
safeguards, to help them address balance of payments problems.
With its near-global membership of 187 countries, the IMF is uniquely placed to help member
governments take advantage of the opportunities—and manage the challenges—posed by
globalization and economic development more generally. The IMF tracks global economic trends and
performance, alerts its member countries when it sees problems on the horizon.

How they do it
The IMF's main goal is to ensure the stability of the international monetary and financial
system. It helps resolve crises, and works with its member countries to promote growth and
alleviate poverty. It has three main tools at its disposal to carry out its mandate: surveillance,
technical assistance and training, and lending. These functions are underpinned by the IMF's
research and statistics.

Surveillance
The IMF promotes economic stability and global growth by encouraging countries to adopt
sound economic and financial policies. To do this, it regularly monitors global, regional, and
national economic developments. It also seeks to assess the impact of the policies of individual
countries on other economies.
This process of monitoring and discussing countries’ economic and financial policies is known as
bilateral surveillance. On a regular basis—usually once each year—the IMF conducts in depth
appraisals of each member country's economic situation. It discusses with the country's
authorities the policies that are most conducive to a stable and prosperous economy

Technical assistance and training

IMF offers technical assistance and training to help member countries strengthen their capacity
to design and implement effective policies. Technical assistance is offered in several areas,
including fiscal policy, monetary and exchange rate policies, banking and financial system
supervision and regulation, and statistics.
The IMF provides technical assistance and training mainly in four areas:
 Monetary and financial policies (monetary policy instruments, banking system supervision
and restructuring, foreign management and operations, clearing settlement systems for
payments, and structural development of central banks)
 Fiscal policy and management (tax and customs policies and administration, budget
formulation, expenditure management, design of social safety nets, and management of
domestic and foreign debt)
 Compilation, management, dissemination, and improvement of statistical data
 Economic and financial legislation.

Lending
In the event that member countries experience difficulties financing their balance of payments,
the IMF is also a fund that can be tapped to facilitate recovery. A policy program supported by
financing is designed by the national authorities in close cooperation with the IMF. Continued
financial support is conditional on the effective implementation of this program.
The IMF also provides low-income countries with loans at a concessional interest rate through
the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) and the Exogenous Shocks Facility (ESF). For
more on different types of IMF lending, go to Lending in the Our Work section.

Research and data

Supporting all three of these activities is the IMF's economic and financial research and
statistics. In recent years, the IMF has applied both its surveillance and technical assistance
work to the development of standards and codes of good practice in its areas of responsibility,
and to the strengthening of financial sectors
MEMBERS
The IMF currently has a near-global membership of 187 countries. To become a member, a
country must apply and then be accepted by a majority of the existing members. In June 2009,
the former Yugoslav republic of Kosovo joined the IMF, becoming the institution's 186th
member.
Upon joining, each member of the IMF is assigned a quota, based broadly on its relative size in
the world economy. The IMF's membership agreed in May 2008 on a rebalancing of its quota
system to reflect the changing global economic realities, especially the increased weight of
major emerging markets in the global economy. For more on the quota and voice reform,
please go to the section on Country Representation in the Governance section).
Subscriptions - A member's quota subscription determines the maximum amount of
financial the member is obliged to provide to the IMF. A member must pay its subscription in
full upon joining the IMF: up to 25 percent must be paid in the IMF's own currency,
called Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) or widely accepted currencies (such as the dollar, the
euro, the yen, or pound sterling), while the rest is paid in the member's own currency.
Voting power - The quota largely determines a member's voting power in IMF decisions. Each
IMF member has 250 basic votes plus one additional vote for each SDR 100,000 of quota.
Accordingly, the United States has 371,743 votes (16.77 percent of the total), and Palau has
281 votes (0.01 percent of the total). The newly agreed quota and voice reform will result in a
significant shift in the representation of dynamic economies, many of which are emerging
market countries, through a quota increase for 54 member countries. A tripling of the number
of basic votes is also envisaged as a means to give poorer countries a greater say in running
the institution.
Working with the World Bank
The IMF and the World Bank are different, but complement each other's work. Whereas the
IMF's focus is chiefly on macroeconomic and financial sector issues, the World Bank is
concerned mainly with longer-term development and poverty reduction. Its loans finance
infrastructure projects, the reform of particular sectors of the economy, and broader structural
reforms. Countries must join the IMF to be eligible for World Bank membership.
Given the World Bank's focus on antipoverty issues, the IMF collaborates closely with the Bank
in the area of poverty reduction and helping countries draw up poverty reduction strategies.
Other areas of collaboration include assessments of member countries' financial sectors,
development of standards and codes, and improvement of the quality, availability, and
coverage of data on external debt.

Cooperating with other international organizations

The IMF is a member of the Switzerland-based Financial Stability Board, which brings together
government officials responsible for financial stability in the major international financial
centers, international regulatory and supervisory bodies, committees of central bank experts,
and international financial institutions. It also works with standard-setting bodies such as
the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the International Association of Insurance
Supervisors.
The IMF collaborates with the World Trade Organization (WTO) both formally and informally.
The IMF has observer status at WTO meetings and IMF staffs contribute to the work of the WTO
Working Group on Trade, Debt, and Finance. And the IMF is involved in the WTO-led Integrated
Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries, whose other
members are the International Trade Commission, UNCTAD, UNDP, and the World Bank.
The IMF has a Special Representative to the United Nations, located at the UN Headquarters in
New York. The Special Representative facilitates the liaison between the IMF and the UN
system. The general arrangements for collaboration and consultations between the IMF and the