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.
Special drawing rights are supplementary foreign exchange reserve assets defined and maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). SDRs are units of account for the IMF, and not a currency per se. They represent a claim to currency held by IMF member countries for which they may be exchanged. SDRs were created in 1969 to supplement a shortfall of preferred foreign exchange reserve assets, namely gold and U.S. dollars. The ISO 4217 currency code for special drawing rights is XDR and the numeric code is 960.
The Group of Ten refers to the group of countries that agreed to participate in the General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB), an agreement to provide the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with additional funds to increase its lending ability.
The Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial relations among the United States, Canada, Western European countries, and Australia among 44 other countries after the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement. The Bretton Woods system was the first example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern monetary relations among independent states. The Bretton Woods system required countries to guarantee convertibility of their currencies into U.S. dollars to within 1% of fixed parity rates, with the dollar convertible to gold bullion for foreign governments and central banks at US$35 per troy ounce of fine gold. It also envisioned greater cooperation among countries in order to prevent future competitive devaluations, and thus established the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to monitor exchange rates and lend reserve currencies to nations with balance of payments deficits.
In 1945, China cofounded the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with 34 other nations. China was initially represented by the Republic of China. In April 1980, representation transferred to the People's Republic of China. The Chinese-IMF relationship mainly operates around affairs associated with IMF governance and the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR).
El Salvador has been a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since 1946. Their quota currently consists of 287.20 million SDR. The country has received loans from the IMF in the past, but most recently has received only standby loans and currently has no outstanding payments. As of June 2017, the standby arrangements total 1,442,300 SDR while the government has only drawn upon 132,250 SDR.
Vietnam joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on September 21, 1956, under the policy of Article VIII. Their quota contributes an estimated SDR of 1,153 millions and voting power of 0.24%. As of August 2016, the current IMF Resident Representative to Vietnam is Jonathan Dunn.
Jamaica joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in February 1963 under the leadership of The Rt. Hon. Sir Alexander Bustamante, one year after the country's independence. From 1963 to 1966, Rt. Hon. Sir Donald Sangster served as Jamaica's governor to the IMF and World Bank, and represented Jamaica during delegations held at the IMF and World Bank's Washington D.C. headquarters. In 1963, the IMF made its first loan to Jamaica ever, in the amount of 10 million SDR's. In 1967, Sir Donald Sangster was elected as Jamaica's second Prime Minister, simultaneously serving as Minister of Finance and Minister of Defense.
Iceland joined the International Monetary Fund on Dec 27th 1945, becoming one of the IMF's founding members. As a part of the IMF, Iceland has rights in accordance with its contributions, borrowing rights which help facilitate the stability of global financial markets. Iceland's quota is 321.8 million SDR, and its Special Drawing Rights are 112 million. This is a relatively small quota and its vote share comprises only 0.09% of all IMF vote shares, or 4,683 votes to be exact.
Portugal joined International Monetary Fund (IMF) on March 29, 1961. They joined by submitting 100 percent of their quota, which is 2,060.10 SDR. Currently, Portugal is using 187.5 percent of their quota, which is 3,862.69 SDR. Portugal has not had an IMF disbursement since 2014. Portugal has just .44 percent of voting power in the IMF.
Poland was one of the founding members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1945. Under pressure from the Soviet Union, the country withdrew in 1950, believing that the organization had become a tool for the United States. Poland rejoined the IMF in 1986, following the end of martial law in Poland (1981–1983) and the withdrawal of the US veto against Polish membership.
The Republic of Belarus became a member of the International Monetary Fund on July 10, 1992 and has since taken out a significant amount of loans to stabilize their economy, balance of payments and hyperinflation. Belarus IMF quota is 681.5 millions of special drawing rights (SDR), 0.14% of IMF total. They have 8,280 number of votes, which independently gives them a .16% voting share. Pavel Kallaur currently holds the board of Governor seat. When it comes to voting power Belarus is grouped in the constituency system consisting of Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and Turkey- together they have 162,344 total votes with 3.23% percent of fund total. Raci Kaya is currently the Board of Governor for the constituency system.
Greece is one of the original members of the International Monetary Fund, joining it on December 27, 1945. It has a quota of 2,428.90 million SDRs and 25,754 votes, 0.51% of the total IMF quota and votes. Greece has been represented on the IMF Board of Governors by Minister of Finance Christos Staikouras since 2019. Greece elects an Executive Director on the fund's Executive Board with Albania, Italy, Malta, Portugal and San Marino. Michail Psalidopoulos is the elected alternate director. Greece has signed two loan agreements with the IMF: a Stand-By Arrangement from 2010 to 2012 and an agreement under the Extended Fund Facility from 2012 to 2016, borrowing a total of 27,766.3 million SDR. Greece owes the IMF 6,735.64 million SDR, and is the fund's third-largest borrower. In 2018, the fund began conducting annual post-program monitoring of Greece in addition to its annual Article IV consultation.
Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from the state formerly known as Yugoslavia in 1992 and joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on December 14, 1992. Bosnia and Herzegovina officially succeeded to the IMF membership of the former Yugoslavia on December 20, 1995, thereby giving the country access to the quota, as well as outstanding loans and payments, on behalf of Yugoslavia. Bosnia and Herzegovina, often synecdochically referred to as Bosnia, currently has an IMF quota of 265.20 million SDR. Bosnia is part of the constituency that contains primarily Eastern European countries but is led by the Netherlands and Belgium. Bosnia controls 4,117 votes of the constituencies 273,058 total votes, and the constituency overall accounts for 5.43% of the IMF's total votes. Since Bosnia joined the IMF in 1992, the country has utilized five borrowing arrangements, four of which were under the Stand-By Arrangements (SBA) and one of which was under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The first of the five arrangements was enacted in May 1998 and the most recent was enacted in September 2016. As of September 2019, Bosnia has 126.82 million SDR outstanding loans and/or purchases from the IMF.
Myanmar, officially joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as of January 3, 1952; shortly before the end of term for the Union of Myanmar's first President, Sao Shwe Thaik, and the induction of Ba U. Since the induction of Myanmar as a member of the institution, they have made six arrangements with the IMF with its most recent arrangement made in 1981. As of 2019, they are currently led by Kyaw Kyaw Maung and Alternate U Soe Thein; their Special Drawing Rights (SDR) is at 0.79 million and quota consists of $516.8 million SDR which is 0.11% of the total IMF funds available. As of 2019, the country is under one of the twenty-four Executive Boards that facilitates the day-to-day operations of the IMF, led by Alisara Mahasandana and Alternate Keng Heng Tan; their co-board members consist of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Republic of Fiji, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, and Vietnam. The Executive Board accumulates around 218,545 total votes which account for 4.34% of the Fund's total, Myanmar allocates 6,633 of the votes.
Iran and the International Monetary Fund have been in partnership since 1945. Iran has gone to the IMF on only two occasions, both before the 1979 revolution of Iran.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) has a history of granting conditional loans to Morocco. This article describes the relationship between Morocco and the IMF since it joined in 1958. The IMF has typically worked to promote liberalization of the Moroccan economy and to maintain the stability and liquidity of finances in both the public and private sectors.
Sri Lanka joined the International Monetary Fund on August 29, 1950. Since June 1965, Sri Lanka has taken 16 loans from the IMF, with a total value of 3,586,000,000 SDR's. The most recent of these loans was agreed to in June 2016, with an agreed total of 1,070,780 SDR's, and 715,230,000 SDR's being withdrawn. Of this total, 715,230,000 SDR's remain outstanding. Notwithstanding the receipt of substantial soft loans from China, the island nation of Sri Lanka finds itself ensnared in a foreign currency crisis, prompting concerns among experts that it may be driven towards default. The current year places a heavy burden on Sri Lanka, with debt repayments amounting to approximately $4.5 billion, commencing with an initial payment of $500 million towards an international sovereign bond. It is worth noting that Sri Lanka holds a position of significant importance in China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.
Serbia has been a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since December 14, 2022 with a quota of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) 654.8 million and 8,0007 votes. Serbia is currently represented on the Executive Board by Piotr Trabinski in a constituency with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Poland, Serbia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan that holds 2.88% of the total vote share.
