International Monetary Fund Essay

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. The Fund’s mandate has recently been clarified and updated to cover the full range of macroeconomic and financial sector issues that bear on global stability.

Surveillance involves the monitoring of economic and financial developments, and the provision of policy advice, aimed especially at crisis-prevention. The IMF also lends to countries with balance of payments difficulties, to provide temporary financing and to support policies aimed at correcting the underlying problems; loans to low-income countries are also aimed especially at poverty reduction. Third, the IMF provides countries with technical assistance and training in its areas of expertise. Supporting all three of these activities is IMF work in economic research and statistics (What the IMF Does).

The International Monetary Fund is a major international economic institution that was established in 1994 to manage international monetary relations (FLS, 327). International leading programs such as the IMF provide financing to developing countries that are facing financial problems that threaten their economic growth and provide them with loans in order to boost the productivity of their countries. The IMF includes both lending and borrowing countries and all members are

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the world's central organization for international monetary cooperation. It is an organization in which almost all countries in the world work together to promote the common good (IMF 2006). That’s IMF is an international organization that oversees the global financial system by observing exchange rates and balance of payments, as well as offering financial and technical assistance. The primary purpose of IMF is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system in order to sustainable economic growth and rising living standards of the member countries. And IMF also granting short-term loans and promotes free-trade to conserve foreign exchange reserves.

There are many examples of IMF projects that resulted in failure in recent years. Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, Korea, and Indonesia are just a few examples, and now we can add Greece to the list. The IMF invested in Greece in 2010 and in 2013, the IMF openly recognized that they misjudged the effect austerity would have on the Greek economy (Elliot, L., Inman, P., & Smith, H., 2013). They issued a report that identified 'Notable failures ' that include "failure in restoring market confidence, the banks’ 30 percent loss in deposits, high unemployment, waiting too long to restructure the nation’s debt, and a deepening of the recession" (IMF recognizes 'notable failures ' in Greek bailout, 2013).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) seeks to "…foster global growth and economic stability," according to its Overview in the IMF web site. The IMF doesn't just loan money, it also provides "policy advice" along with financing to those members (among its 188 member countries) that are experiencing "economic difficulties" (www.IMF.org). Cooperation between IMF and its member nations is the key to being able to reduce poverty and stabilize economies, the IMF explains. Though the IMF is a "specialized agency of the United Nations," it has its own structure, policies and charter, and one of its most important tasks is to alert any of those within its 188-country membership about potential "…risks on the horizon" that could create financial problems down the road (www.IMF.org).

Throughout this section of the class, the IMF and the World Bank have been studied extensively. All students have come away with different ideas about these two organizations. In the following paragraphs, I will attempt to explain my own thoughts on the IMF and the World Bank. Mainly, that their practices are insufficient for accountability and do threaten the sovereignty of certain nations. I will also attempt to explain why I think this is the case.

IMF and the World Bank were created after World War II. Rebuilding nations after the war was costly and this burden needed to be shared amongst nations. With global adherence in its agenda, UK and USA proposed the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to help prevent nation in this rebuilding process. Having just experienced the Great Depression, they wanted a policy to help nations in certain crisis.

Furthermore, critics say; “the IMF frequently argues for the same economic policies regardless of the situation.” (Pettinger, 2008) The IMF blindly imposed the same “conditionality’s” to all its loans. What policies might have worked for one country might make matters even worse in others.

In the last chapter we looked at how incompetent and politically driven economic policy making drove Europe into prolonged recession and high unemployment. The financial crises and fear of a meltdown slowed world economic growth considerably. In October 2010, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected 4.6 percent growth for the global economy in 2013; it ended up being just 3 percent. This difference may not seem like much, but in terms of lost output it is more than $800 billion, and it is not only in the rich countries. This meant that tens of millions of people worldwide were pushed into poverty and unemployment, including in developing countries – despite the fact that the big policy mistakes were being made in Europe. To most of the people who write about these issues, and most of the media, there was not much that could have been done differently, that would have assured a speedy and robust recovery. But they are wrong.

The world bank and the IMF they are both an integral part of the world economy and very crucial to the development of the development of the world economy at large. Well they are both owned and directed by the government of member nations involved in coming together in creating an avenue in that strengthening and broadening the growth of each member state which is the of the upper most. Their primary responsibility is to assist member nations to achieve or attain a good economic development which is part of their goal as a body to promote economic and social progress in developing countries by helping to their productivity which help their member in return to live a better and fuller life. Their major goal is ensure that there is stable growth of the world economy, providing technical assistance to poorer countries and ensuring that have a good technical assistance.

The IMF is currently accountable to and governed by 189 countries, all of which play a part in delivering its primary goals of “promoting international financial stability and monetary cooperation, through its activities of Surveillance, Financial, and Technical Assistance.” (Imforg, 2016)

The IMF is currently accountable to and governed by 189 countries, all of which play a part in delivering its primary goals of “promoting international financial stability and monetary cooperation, through its activities of Surveillance, Financial, and Technical Assistance.” (Imforg, 2016)

The IMF is financed by quota which is charged and paid by all the nations who are members. This quota is based on the member countries wealth. Which means if a country paying higher contribution they will get greater voting rights in the decision making. If a member has a problem can apply and get a short period grant, but of course just credit against because the IMF is not a charity body. (BBC, 2012) "The largest member of the IMF is the United States, with a current quota of SDR 42.1 billion (about $65 billion), and the smallest member is Tuvalu, with a current quota of SDR 1.8 million (about $2.78 million)" (IMF/Quotas, 2015) This quota system has an impact on the quota

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established in 1946, along with the World Bank. The IMF was developed to promote all monetary cooperation and remedy economic problems incurred during the post - war reconstruction period (Baylis; 2008: 245). The IMF was therefore considered as the “rule keeper” and an important component in public international management. In the pursuit to stabilise the exchange rate system, the IMF reserves the authority to change exchange rates. Another vital role is control over the balance of payments deficit of states and governing the policies which affect states monetary systems (Spero; 1990: 33). However, since the 1980 's, the IMF 's role has settled into the position of an institution providing assistance, based on financial situations, to developing countries. In order for countries to receive any assistance, the governments of those countries must agree to certain conditions set out by the IMF and the World Bank which permits the implementation of specific reforms provided by these institutions (Baylis; 2008: 245).