IMF is an acronym that refers to the International Monetary Fund , an institution that, in English, is known as IMF ( International Monetary Fund ). It is an international entity that seeks to promote financial cooperation and trade worldwide.
The IMF was created in 1944 , after a conference of the United Nations ( UN ) that took place in the American town of Bretton Woods . There, representatives from forty-four countries reached an agreement on various economic measures with the aim of preventing devaluations such as those that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s from occurring again.
In this way, the IMF was born with the purpose of guaranteeing the stability of the world monetary system, trying to ensure that exchange rates and the flow of payments do not register serious alterations and thus facilitate international transactions.
One of the main activities of the IMF is to provide financial assistance ( credits ) to member countries that need help to solve problems in their balance of payments. Critics of this organization, however, warn that the IMF grants “aid” in exchange for imposing policies that aim to reduce public spending. Therefore, IMF loans condition the national policy of member states, whose citizens may suffer cuts in public services (health, education, etc.).
The IMF headquarters is located in Washington ( United States ). Currently, the organization has 189 member countries and has Pakistan , Ukraine , Greece and Portugal among its main borrowers.
Other data of interest about the aforementioned IMF or International Monetary Fund are the following:
-A 0% interest rate on loans is established for countries.
-A total of 147 nationalities are represented in the personnel who work in said organization.
-1 trillion dollars is the total amount that the IMF can proceed to lend to member countries.
-Since 2008, it has granted a total of 172 new loans.
-In the same way, it is interesting to know that at this moment the IMF has more than forty current loans.
-As for its organizational chart, it should be noted that, currently, it has a total of 24 executive directors who represent the 189 member countries that comprise it.
-Among the tasks it carries out, it must be emphasized that it helps countries to be able to carry out what is the modernization of both the policies they have and the economic institutions that they have.
-In addition to everything indicated, we cannot forget that the main source of financial resources that the IMF has are the quotas paid by the member countries that are part of it.
-We can establish that the Board of Governors is the highest body within its organizational structure. It is made up of a governor and an alternate governor for each of the member countries.