International Monetary Fund

The IMF building in Washington

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization. 189 countries are members of the International Monetary Fund. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., USA.

Origin

In the 1930s, many countries faced economic problems. The standard of living declined, and a great many people were unemployed. International trade became much smaller. Some countries reduced the value of their currencies. All these factors combined in the 1930s, and an economic depression resulted. By late 1939, the Second World War had started.

As the Second World War ended, most countries found that international values faced many restrictions and were not smooth. Leaders of many countries thought over these matters and discussed them in meetings and agreed on the Bretton Woods system. Thus, after the Second World War, many countries felt the need to have an organization to get help in monetary matters between countries. To begin with, 29 countries discussed the matter, and signed an agreement. The agreement was the Articles of Association of the International Monetary Fund. The International Monetary Fund came into being in 29th December 1945.

Membership

Any country may apply to become a member of the IMF. When a country applies for membership, the IMF’s executive board examines the application. If found suitable, the executive board gives its report to IMF’s Board of Governors. After the Board of Governor clears the application, the country may join the IMF. However, before joining, the country should fulfill legal requirements, if any, of its own country. Every member has a different voting right. Likewise, every country has a different right to draw funds. This depends on many factors, including the member country’s first subscription to the IMF. Currently IMF consists of 190 countries as stated on the official website.

Functions

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

• Helping in international trade, that is business between countries
• Looking after exchange rates
• Looking after balance of payments
• Helping member countries in economic development
• It also provides a machinery for international consultations.

Management

A Board of Directors manages the IMF. One tradition has governed the selection of two most senior posts of IMF. Firstly, IMF’s managing director is always European. World Bank's president is always from the United States of America.

Current managing director is Bulgarian economist Kristalina Georgieva.

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.

List of managing directors

Term	Dates	Name	Citizenship	Background
1	6 May 1946 – 5 May 1951	Dr. Camille Gutt	Belgium	Politician, Economist, Lawyer, Economics Minister, Finance Minister
2	3 August 1951 – 3 October 1956	Ivar Rooth	Sweden	Economist, Lawyer, Central Banker
3	21 November 1956 – 5 May 1963	Per Jacobsson	Sweden	Economist, Lawyer, Academic, League of Nations, BIS
4	1 September 1963 – 31 August 1973	Pierre-Paul Schweitzer	France	Lawyer, Businessman, Civil Servant, Central Banker
5	1 September 1973 – 18 June 1978	Dr. Johan Witteveen	Netherlands	Politician, Economist, Academic, Finance Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, CPB
6	18 June 1978 – 15 January 1987	Jacques de Larosière	France	Businessman, Civil Servant, Central Banker
7	16 January 1987 – 14 February 2000	Dr. Michel Camdessus	France	Economist, Civil Servant, Central Banker
8	1 May 2000 – 4 March 2004	Horst Köhler	Germany	Politician, Economist, Civil Servant, EBRD, President
9	7 June 2004 – 31 October 2007	Rodrigo Rato	Spain	Politician, Businessman, Economics Minister, Finance Minister, Deputy Prime Minister
10	1 November 2007 – 18 May 2011	Dr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn	France	Politician, Economist, Lawyer, Businessman, Economics Minister, Finance Minister
11	5 July 2011 – 12 September 2019	Christine Lagarde	France	Politician, Lawyer, Finance Minister
12	1 October 2019 – present	Dr. Kristalina Georgieva	Bulgaria	Politician, Economist

Related pages

• World Bank Group
• Susan George

Other websites

• International Monetary Fund website