Descriptive Account About The International Monetary Fund

By Jack Wagon

Occurring in the'30s, the Great Depression resulted in countries trying to give a boost to their own economies by increasing barriers to international trade. Countries devalued their currencies to compete as far as the international arena was concerned, restricting the buying power of their people in order to be able to have foreign exchange. These changes led to assistance of world trade, standard of living, and employment opportunities to lessen drastically all over the globe.

This complete failure of the world led the founders of IMF to organise a body that has the right to oversee the International Monetary System. This system has the right to lend money to countries to help them overcome their debt; they facilitate countries by helping their citizens to buy goods, and services from each other by exporting them. This body makes sure that the countries are managing their exchange rates effectively, and it encourages its members to do away with exchange rate restrictions that obstruct international trade.

People from forty-five nations met up when the IMF was conceived in July of'44. They considered coming together in order to prevent another relapse of the Great Depression. The IMF was officially formed in December'45, when twenty-nine countries became signatories of the Articles of Agreement, and it became fully functional in March 1,'47. Later during the same year, France became the first country to borrow money from this body. The IMF membership has increased since then. Numerous African countries became independent, wished to join the organisation.

Today, the IMF has almost a global membership with'6 countries, as its members. To become a member, a country has to apply to the IMF, and then be accepted by a majority of the members. The last member to join the IMF was in 2009 when Yugoslav became the'6th member.

A country has to follow specific rules as soon as it becomes a member. They are assigned a quota, which outlines the financial and organisational interaction between the IMF, and that particular country. It consists of the subscription, voting power, access to power, and SDR allocations.

The maximum amount of financial capital that the member is indebted for is shown in the subscriptions. The quota also figures out the voting power of the members within the organisation. Every IMF member has 250 votes, and another vote for each SDR 100,000 of quota. Financing access tells the member about the total amount that they are allowed to borrow from the IMF. As a reserve asset, the SDR allocations are utilised in the IMF unit of account. The quota determines the calculation.

The IMF is currently helping the surfacing market countries to rise. It is lending aid to the low-income nations, and is providing advice on how to deal with their banking systems in addition to their exchange rate systems. They provide advice regarding designing efficient and effective stimulus packages. The IMF has already doubled their financial aid offered to low income countries.

Since the global economy is reaching another peak in 2009, where struggles are now increasing, the IMF has already arranged to add to its resources, and borrow from countries. The agreements are already in line with Japan, $100 billion, Canada, $10 billion, and Norway $4.5 billion. Either through loans or through purchases of IMF notes, various countries have also made their commitments. - 33380

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