International Monetary Fund:
International Monetary Fund (IMF) is one of the two institutions that were established as a result of the Brettonwoods Conference in 1944, the other institution was the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), also known as the World Bank. IMF aims at promoting international monetary cooperation with a view to achieve certain mutually agreed international economic goals. It is also a lender of short-term funds to member-countries, mainly to adjust balance of payments deficits.
Objectives of the IMF
The Articles of Agreement of the IMF set out the following as the objectives of the Fund:
• To promote international monetary cooperation through a permanent institution which provides the machinery for consultation and collaboration on international monetary problems.
• To facilitate the expansion and balanced growth of international trade and to contribute thereby to the promotion and maintenance of high levels of employment and real income and to the development of the productive resources of all members as primary objectives of economic policy.
• To promote exchange stability, to maintain orderly exchange arrangements among members, and to avoid competitive exchange depreciation.
• To assist in the establishment of a multilateral system of payments in respect of current transactions between members and in the elimination of exchange restrictions which hamper the growth of world trade.
• To give confidence to members by making the general resources of the Fund temporarily available to them under adequate safeguards, thus, providing them with an opportunity to correct maladjustments in their balance of payments without resorting to measures destructive of national or international prosperity.
• In accordance with the above, to shorten the duration and lessen the degree of disequilibrium in the international balance of payments of members.