The IMF at A Glance

The IMF at a Glance
February 16, 2011
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) works to foster international monetary cooperation,
secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and
sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world. Created in 1945, the IMF is
governed by and accountable to the 187 countries that make up its near-global membership.
Why the IMF was created and how it works
The IMF, also known as the “Fund,” was conceived at a United Nations conference convened in
Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, in July 1944. The 44 governments represented at
that conference sought to build a framework for economic cooperation that would avoid a
repetition of the vicious circle of competitive devaluations that had contributed to the Great
Depression of the 1930s.
The IMF’s responsibilities: The IMF's primary purpose is to ensure the stability of the
international monetary system—the system of exchange rates and international payments that
enables countries (and their citizens) to transact with one other. This system is essential for
promoting sustainable economic growth, increasing living standards, and reducing poverty.
Following the recent global crisis, the Fund has been clarifying and updating its mandate to
cover the full range of macroeconomic and financial sector issues that bear on global stability
Fast Facts on the IMF
 Membership: 187 countries

 Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
 Executive Board: 24 Directors representing countries or groups of countries
 Staff: Approximately 2,500 from 160 countries
 Total quotas: US$340 billion (as of 1/31/11)
 Additional pledged or committed resources: US$600 billion
 Loans committed (as of 1/31/11): US$254 billion, of which US$190 billion have not
been drawn (see table)
 Biggest borrowers (credit outstanding as of 1/31/11): Romania, Ukraine, Greece
 Surveillance consultations: Consultations concluded for 120 countries in FY2010 and
for 88 countries in FY2011 as of 02/11/11
 Technical assistance: Field delivery in FY2010—192.5 person years
 Transparency: In 2009, over 90 percent of Article IV and program-related staff reports
and policy papers were published
 Original aims: Article I of the Articles of Agreement sets out the IMF’s main goals:
o promoting international monetary cooperation;
o facilitating the expansion and balanced growth of international trade;
o promoting exchange stability;
o assisting in the establishment of a multilateral system of payments; and
o making resources available (with adequate safeguards) to members
experiencing balance of payments difficulties
Surveillance: To maintain stability and prevent crises in the international monetary system, the
IMF reviews country policies, as well as national, regional, and global economic and financial
developments through a formal system known as surveillance. Under the surveillance
framework, the IMF provides advice to its 187 member countries, encouraging policies that
foster economic stability, reduce vulnerability to economic and financial crises, and raise living
standards. It provides regular assessment of global prospects in its World Economic Outlook,
financial markets in its Global Financial Stability Report, and public finance developments in its
Fiscal Monitor, and publishes a series of regional economic outlooks. The Fund’s Executive
Board has been considering a range of options to enhance multilateral, financial, and bilateral
surveillance, and better integrate the three.
Financial assistance: IMF financing provides member countries the breathing room they need to
correct balance of payments problems. A policy program supported by IMF financing is
designed by the national authorities in close cooperation with the IMF, and continued financial
support is conditioned on effective implementation of this program. In an early response to the
recent global economic crisis, the IMF strengthened its lending capacity and approved a major
overhaul of the mechanisms for providing financial support in April 2009, with further reforms
adopted in August 2010.
In the most recent reforms, IMF lending instruments were improved further to provide flexible
crisis prevention tools to a broad range of members with sound fundamentals, policies, and
institutional policy frameworks. In low-income countries, the IMF doubled loan access limits
and is boosting its lending to the world’s poorer countries, with interest rates set at zero until
2012.
SDRs: The IMF issues an international reserve asset known as Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)
that can supplement the official reserves of member countries. Two allocations in August and
September 2009 increased the outstanding stock of SDRs almost ten-fold to total about SDR
204 billion (US$308 billion). Members can also voluntarily exchange SDRs for currencies
among themselves. In a recent paper, IMF staff explore options to enhance the role of the SDR to
promote international monetary stability.
Technical assistance: The 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 tax policy and administration, expenditure management,
monetary and exchange rate policies, banking and financial system supervision and regulation,
legislative frameworks, and statistics.
Resources: The IMF’s resources are provided by its member countries, primarily through
payment of quotas, which broadly reflect each country’s economic size. At the April 2009 G-20
Summit, world leaders pledged to support a tripling of the IMF's lending resources from about
US$250 billion to US$750 billion. To deliver on this pledge, the current and new participants in
the New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) agreed to expand the NAB to about US$550 billion,
which was approved by the Executive Board of the IMF on April 12, 2010. When concluding the
14th General Review of Quotas in December 2010, Governors agreed to double the IMF’s quota
resources to approximately US$745 billion and a major realignment of quota shares among
members. When the quota increase becomes effective, there will be a corresponding rollback in
NAB resources.
Historically, the annual expenses of running the Fund have been met mainly by interest receipts
on outstanding loans, but the membership recently agreed to adopt a new income model based on
a range of revenue sources better suited to the diverse activities of the Fund.
Governance and organization: The IMF is accountable to the governments of its member
countries. At the top of its organizational structure is the Board of Governors, which consists of
one Governor and one Alternate Governor from each member country. The Board of Governors
meets once each year at the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings. Twenty-four of the Governors
sit on the International Monetary and Finance Committee (IMFC) and meet at least twice each
year.
The day-to-day work of the IMF is conducted by its 24-member Executive Board, which
represents the entire membership; this work is guided by the IMFC and supported by the IMF’s
professional staff. In reforms approved by the Governors in December 2010, the Articles of
Agreement will be amended so that the Executive Board will consist solely of elected Directors,
doing away with the practice of some member countries appointing their representatives. The
Managing Director is Head of IMF staff and Chairman of the Executive Board, and is assisted by
three Deputy Managing Directors.

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The IMF at a Glance

February 16, 2011

Why the IMF was created and how it works

Fast Facts on the IMF

 Membership: 187 countries

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