The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations,and an international financial institution funded by 190 member countries,with headquarters in Washington,D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of last resort to national governments,and a leading supporter of exchange-rate stability. Its stated mission is "working to foster global monetary cooperation,secure financial stability,facilitate international trade,promote high employment and sustainable economic growth,and reduce poverty around the world." Established on December 27,1945 at the Bretton Woods Conference,primarily according to the ideas of Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes,it started with 29 member countries and the goal of reconstructing the international monetary system after World War II. It now plays a central role in the management of balance of payments difficulties and international financial crises. Through a quota system,countries contribute funds to a pool from which countries can borrow if they experience balance of payments problems. As of 2016,the fund had SDR 477 billion.
The 1997 Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect,raising fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However,the recovery in 1998–1999 was rapid,and worries of a meltdown quickly subsided.
Jeffrey David Sachs is an American economist,academic,public policy analyst,and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University,where he holds the title of University Professor. He is known for his work on sustainable development,economic development,and the fight to end poverty.
John Harold Williamson was a British-born economist who coined the term Washington Consensus. He served as a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics from 1981 until his retirement in 2012. During that time,he was the project director for the United Nations High-Level Panel on Financing for Development in 2001. He was also on leave as chief economist for South Asia at the World Bank during 1996–99,adviser to the International Monetary Fund from 1972 to 1974,and an economic consultant to the UK Treasury from 1968 to 1970. He was also an economics professor at Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (1978–81),University of Warwick (1970–77),Massachusetts Institute of Technology,University of York (1963–68) and Princeton University (1962–63).
Stanley Fischer is an Israeli-American economist who served as the 20th Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2017. Fischer previously served as the 8th Governor of the Bank of Israel from 2005 to 2013. Born in Northern Rhodesia,he holds dual citizenship in Israel and the United States. He previously served as First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and as Chief Economist of the World Bank. On January 10,2014,President Barack Obama nominated Fischer to the position of Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve. He is a senior advisor at BlackRock. On September 6,2017,Stanley Fischer announced that he was resigning as Vice-Chair for personal reasons effective October 13,2017,two days before his 74th birthday.
Olivier Jean Blanchard is a French economist and professor who currently serves as the Robert M. Solow Professor Emeritus of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,and as the C. Fred Bergsten Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He was the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund from September 1,2008,to September 8,2015. Blanchard was appointed to the position under the tenure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn;he was succeeded by Maurice Obstfeld. According to IDEAS/RePEc,he is one of the most cited economists in the world.
Raghuram Govind Rajan is an Indian economist and the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. Between 2003 and 2006 he was Chief Economist and director of research at the International Monetary Fund. From September 2013 through September 2016 he was the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. In 2015,during his tenure at the RBI,he became the Vice-Chairman of the Bank for International Settlements.
Agustín Guillermo Carstens Carstens is a Mexican economist who has served as the general manager of the Bank for International Settlements since 1 December 2017. He served as governor of the Bank of Mexico from 1 January 2010 to 30 November 2017. In 2011,Carstens,along with Christine Lagarde,was one of the two final candidates to become the managing director of the International Monetary Fund. He previously served as secretary of finance in the cabinet of Felipe Calderón (2006–09),as deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (2003–06) and as treasurer of the Bank of Mexico. In 2011 he was included in the 50 Most Influential ranking of Bloomberg Markets Magazine. Carstens took up his appointment as the general manager at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel,Switzerland,where he was appointed to a five-year term,starting on 1 December 2017.
Mark Joseph Carney is a Canadian economist and banker who served as the governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013 and the governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020. He currently serves as chairman,and head of Impact Investing at Brookfield Asset Management since 2020,and was named chairman of Bloomberg Inc.,parent company of Bloomberg L.P.,in 2023. He was the chair of the Financial Stability Board from 2011 to 2018. Prior to his governorships,Carney worked at Goldman Sachs as well as the Department of Finance Canada.
Brad W. Setser is an American economist. He is a former staff economist at the United States Department of the Treasury,worked at Roubini Global Economics Monitor as Director of Global Research where he co-authored the book "Bailouts or Bail-ins?" with Nouriel Roubini,as a fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations,for the United States National Economic Council as Director of International Economics,for the United States Department of the Treasury,and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Economic Analysis as senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Edwin (Ted) M. Truman is an American economist specializing in international financial institutions,especially the International Monetary Fund and sovereign wealth funds. He has been a Senior Fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics since 2001. Truman has worked quietly over the years on international financial crises issues. Nobel laureate Paul Krugman described Truman as the "George Smiley of international economics".
Terence James O'Neill,Baron O'Neill of Gatley is a British economist best known for coining BRIC,the acronym that stands for Brazil,Russia,India,and China—the four once rapidly developing countries that were thought to challenge the global economic power of the developed G7 economies. He is also a former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and former Conservative government minister.
Susan Jean Elisabeth "Zanny" Minton Beddoes is a British journalist. She is the editor-in-chief of The Economist,the first woman to hold the position. She began working for the magazine in 1994 as its emerging markets correspondent.
Jens Weidmann is a German economist who served as president of the Deutsche Bundesbank between 2011 and 2021. He also served as chairman of the Board of the Bank for International Settlements.
Charles H. Dallara is an American banker and the former managing director of the Institute of International Finance.
Reza Moghadam is a British-Iranian economist who has been Vice-Chairman for Global Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley since October 2014. Until July 2014,he was the International Monetary Fund’s front man for dealing with European policy makers and institutions during the eurozone crisis. During his twenty-year career at the IMF he dealt first-hand with many crises—in emerging markets,in the advanced countries of the Eurozone and with the Fund’s own restructuring.
Liviu Voinea is a professor of International Economics and Macroeconomics at the Academy of Economic Studies since 2013. Between august 2019 and august 2023 he was Romania's representative to the International Monetary Fund and Senior Advisor to the IMF Executive Director. In this capacity he was a member of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund. He also represented Montenegro to the IMF.
Geoffrey William Seiji Okamoto is an American economist and government official who served as first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Okamoto previously served as the acting assistant secretary for international finance and development in the United States Department of the Treasury. He was nominated for this position on January 1,2019,by the White House and was never confirmed by the United States Congress. He previously served as acting assistant secretary for international markets and investment,for which he was also not confirmed.
Daniele Franco is an Italian economist,central banker and civil servant who served as Minister of Economy and Finance in the cabinet of Prime Minister Mario Draghi from 2021 to 2022. From 2020 until 2021,he served as director-general of the Bank of Italy.
