The International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Résumé du document

As we are in a crisis period we thought that it would be interesting to understand the International Monetary Fund. The organization is one of the main elements which can solve the current crisis. Though the development of the IMF during recent years has shown a particular interest in helping the global and regional economies, its detractors are trying to prove that the organization only served the most developed countries like the USA. Is this organization influenced? To respond to this question we will present the organization and its structure in the first part, and will then look at its advantages in the second part before defining its limits in the third part. The IMF is one of the three international organizations -with the World Bank and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade- created during the end of the Second World War, in 1944. The International monetary fund was built to avoid economic issues like the great depression of 1929 in New York. The main aim of the IMF was to rebuild confidence in International cooperation and trust in the international financial system. The goal of that institution is to facilitate the post war economy by having influence on countries and not allowed them to continue protectionism, war on tariff or even competitive devaluations. Also the IMF has to stabilize exchange rate and currencies, balance of payments, balance of trade and lower trade barriers between countries.

Extraits

[...] Since its creation the IMF has evolved as a globalize organization with global and regional missions. That agency proves its transparency thanks to reports about the company however it is influenced by the major contributors like the United States of America. It's a long term organization which is now facing the financial crisis. The IMF has to re-launch the economy by trying to implement its strategies developed after having defined the situation analysis. The IMF has also the ability and the obligation to help countries in needs and to attempt to reduce poverty. [...]

[...] The IMF is offering global and regional reports situation concerning the finance and the economy. For example that specialized agency of the United Nations published twice a year the World Economic Outlook, the Global Financial Stability Report and the Regional Economic Outlook. These publications are useful tools for countries to define the current world economic and financial situation, to have an overview of the threat and opportunities of the period and to greater forecast the future situation. Besides, to prove its transparency as an international organization the Imf is providing the Annual Assessments of Economies which show the institution executive board discussion, staff actions and institution development. [...]

[...] To put it in a nutshell, we can say that International Monetary fund is the main organization which aims at helping countries to face economical crisis. However, the IMF is not considered yet as a liable organization, and is victim of several critics for not treating all economies and countries on an equal footing, which seems to be a common interest and would be more relevant to avoid huge crisis and improve economies of poor countries in the world. Nowadays, the current international economic crisis stands, not only, for a huge challenge for the IMF, but also a kind of threat since IMF has been criticized for years and it cannot lose credibility and efficiency anymore. [...]

[...] The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Table of contents Introduction I . IMF : A well-structured organization ? Presentation of the IMF Advantages II. IMF: A perfectible Organization? Main Criticisms Asian crisis in 1997 ( IMF Intervention) Conclusion & Sources Introduction As we are in a crisis period we thought that it will be interesting to understand the International Monetary Fund. That organization is one of the main elements which can solve the current crisis. However the development of the Imf during years have shown a particular interest in helping the global and regional economies its detractors are trying to prove that the organization only served the most developed countries like the USA. [...]

[...] Today, the total contribution from member countries of the IMF is around 280 billion. That amount of money that the IMF has spent in its actions will then have to be returned to the member country within interest: it is almost like a loan. In that institution each member has a quota which is determined by the member country economic position in comparison to the other members. As the economy of a country is changing that quota is reviewed regularly, it also define the power of vote and access to financing for each country which are also reviewed every five years. [...]