The International Monetary Fund, generally known as the IMF, was established by the agreement reached at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference and began financial operations the following year. It was created to oversee the postwar international monetary system, promote exchange rate stability, and provide short term financial assistance to member countries facing balance of payments difficulties, so that countries would not be forced into damaging trade restrictions or competitive currency devaluations to manage a temporary shortfall. The Fund headquarters was established in Washington, D.C., alongside its sister institution the World Bank, and both organizations grew out of the same Bretton Woods negotiations in which John Maynard Keynes played a leading role on behalf of the British delegation.
Facts
Founding Year Founding DateDated to the Bretton Woods Articles of Agreement signed at the conference's close, matching the entity's own founding-year of 1944; the IMF's formal operations began after ratification on 27 December 1945. HeadquartersWashington, D.C., United States 3 Geography
Country or Jurisdiction ServedWikidata Q7804, property P17 (country). Classification
Institution SubtypeSourced to the subject's own accountInternational Financial Institution 1 International Monetary Fund
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The IMF led roughly 120 billion dollars in rescue packages for Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea, conditioned on structural reforms.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
The IMF sets and maintains the BPM6 standard every member country's balance of payments statistics follow.
Source Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual
The IMF was one of the three troika institutions, with the European Commission and the ECB, that coordinated the bailout programs for Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus.
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Euro area crisis (Wikipedia)European debt crisis, lead section
The reforms were undertaken alongside an IMF-supported adjustment program tied to India's 1991 balance of payments loan.
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source International Monetary Fund (Wikipedia)Economic liberalisation in India
The IMF coordinated rescheduling and lending conditionality across Mexico, Brazil and Argentina through the 1980s.
Source How Jacques de Larosiere and Paul Volcker Contained the 1982-89 Global Debt Crisis
The IMF joined the United States, the Bank for International Settlements and the G7 in administering the 50 billion dollar rescue package.
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source International Monetary Fund (Wikipedia)Mexican peso crisis
Moral Hazard, Concepts Why this is disputed. IMF rescue lending to governments and central bank support for failing financial institutions are frequently analyzed through a moral hazard lens. Critics argue that expected rescues encourage excessive risk taking beforehand, while defenders argue that allowing a systemically important failure to proceed would impose far greater costs on the wider economy. Economists disagree about where this balance lies in practice.
Source The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics
Critiqued Here
Why this is disputed. Post-Keynesian economists, following Minsky's financial-instability analysis, have long criticized IMF austerity conditionality as procyclical, worsening the financial fragility it is meant to resolve.
Source Stabilizing an Unstable EconomyHyman Minsky
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Sources
1. International Monetary Fund (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIntroduction, institution-subtype-p2
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international financial institution and a specialized agency of the United Nations, headquartered in Washington, D.C.
- Associated With: Mexican Peso Crisis (1994), Mexican peso crisis
- Associated With: Indian Economic Liberalization (1991), Economic liberalisation in India
View the Source 2. Wikidata
Wikimedia Foundation
3. Encyclopaedia Britannica
4. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationBretton Woods Conference
The conference was held from July 1 to 22, 1944
International Monetary Fund
The IMF formally came into existence on 27 December 1945, when the first 29 countries ratified its Articles of Agreement
View the Source Wikidata: International Monetary Fund
The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics
Palgrave MacmillanAssociated With: Moral Hazard
How Jacques de Larosiere and Paul Volcker Contained the 1982-89 Global Debt Crisis
Peterson Institute for International EconomicsAssociated With: Latin American Debt CrisisView the Source Stabilizing an Unstable Economy
Hyman Minsky, Yale University Press, 1986Debated With: Post-Keynesian Economics
Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual
Associated With: Balance of Payments
International Monetary Fund: About the IMF
International Monetary FundIn Group: Global Economic and Monetary Organizations, Mission and mandateQuote, In Group: Global Economic and Monetary Organizations, Mission and mandate
The IMF is a global organization that works to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for all of its 191 member countries.
Euro area crisis (Wikipedia)
Associated With: European Debt Crisis, European debt crisis, lead sectionQuote, Associated With: European Debt Crisis, European debt crisis, lead section
Assistance was needed from other eurozone countries, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
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