2. Context
The IMF's primary purpose is to ensure the stability of
the international monetary system—the system of
exchange rates and international payments that
enables countries (and their citizens) to transact with
one other.
This system is essential for promoting sustainable
economic growth, increasing living standards,
and reducing poverty. The Fund’s mandate has
recently been clarified and updated to cover the full
range of macroeconomic and financial sector issues
that bear on global stability.
4. Inception
The IMF, also known as the “Fund,” was conceived at a
United Nations conference convened in Bretton
Woods, New Hampshire, United States, in July 1944.
The 44 governments represented at that conference
sought to build a framework for economic cooperation
that would avoid a repetition of the vicious circle of
competitive devaluations that had contributed to the
Great Depression of the 1930s.
5. Cont…
The IMF came into formal existence in December 1945,
when its first 29 member countries signed its Articles
of Agreement. It began operations on March 1, 1947.
Later that year, France became the first country to
borrow from the IMF.
The IMF's membership began to expand in the late
1950s and during the 1960s as many African countries
became independent and applied for membership.
6. Bretton Woods Agrement
It created two international institutions-
1. The International Monetary fund. (IMF.)
2. The international Bank for Reconstruction and
Development. (World bank.)
7. Objectives of Agreement.
Co-operation among member countries.
Increase trade, growth and employment.
Stabilize exchange rates.
Reduce restrictions on payments for trade.
To reduce BOP crisis.
8. Membership
The IMF currently has a near-global membership of
188 countries. To become a member, a country must
apply and then be accepted by a majority of the
existing members. In April 2012, Republic of South
Sudan joined the IMF, becoming the institution's
188th member.
9. Members Quota
A member country's quota defines its financial and
organizational relationship with the IMF, Including-
1. Subscriptions.
2. Voting Power.
3. Access to Financing.
4. SDR Allocations.
11. Board of Governors
Highest decision making body.
Consists of One governor and One Alternate governor
for each member country.
The Governor is appointed by the member country
and is usually the minister of finance or the head of
the central bank.
Board also elects executive directors.
Votes by mail-in ballot.
12. Ministerial Committees
The IMF Board of Governor is advised by two
ministerial committees,
1. IMFC- International Monetary and Financial
Committee.
2. Development Committee.
13. Executive Board
The IMF's 24-member Executive board takes care of
the daily business of the IMF.
The Board discusses everything from the IMF staff's
annual health checks of member countries' economies
to economic policy issues relevant to the global
economy. The board normally makes decisions based
on consensus but sometimes formal votes are taken.
14. SDR’s
Special Drawing Rights
The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by
the IMF in 1969 to supplement the existing official
reserves of member countries.
The SDR is neither a currency, nor a claim on the IMF.
Rather, it is a potential claim on the freely usable
currencies of IMF members.
In addition to its role as a supplementary reserve asset,
the SDR serves as the unit of account of the IMF and
some other international organizations.
15. IMF’s Gold Stock
The IMF holds a relatively large amount of gold among
its assets, not only for reasons of financial soundness,
but also to meet unforeseen contingencies.
Gold played a central role in the monetary system after
the world war-II.
The IMF's Articles of Agreement strictly limit the use
of the gold following the Second Amendment in 1978,
but with exceptions.
The selling of gold by the IMF is rare as it requires an
Executive Board decision with an 85 percent majority
of the total voting power.
16. Borrowing Agreements
If the IMF believes that its resources might fall short of
members' needs—for example, in the event of a major
financial crisis—it can supplement its own resources by
borrowing.
Currently it has two standing multilateral borrowing
arrangements and one bilateral borrowing agreement-
1. New Arrangements to Borrow. (NAB)
2. General Arrangements to Borrow. (GAB)
17. Evolution
The role of IMF evolved over time to carry out
responsibilities in a developing world trade.
This can be put under 3 stages
1. Bretton Woods System
2. The collapse of Bretton Woods System
3. The Impact of second amendment.
18. Bretton Woods System
The Bretton Woods system of monetary
management established the rules for commercial and
financial relations among the world's major industrial
states in the mid-20th century.
The Bretton Woods system was the first example of a
fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern
monetary relations among independent nation-states.
19. Cont…
The U.S. agreed separately to link the dollar to gold.
Foreign governments and central banks were able to
exchange dollars for gold.
Bretton Woods established a system of payments based on
the dollar, in which all currencies were defined in relation
to the dollar, itself convertible into gold, and above all, "as
good as gold".
The U.S. currency was now effectively the world currency,
the standard to which every other currency was pegged. As
the world's key currency, most international transactions
were denominated in US dollars.
20. Readjustment
Bop difficulties- The Bretton Woods arrangements
were largely adhered to and ratified by the
participating governments.
It was expected that national monetary reserves,
supplemented with necessary IMF credits, would
finance any temporary balance of
payments disequilibria. But this did not prove
sufficient to get Europe out of its conundrum.
Postwar world capitalism suffered from a huge dollar
shortage.
21. Nixon Shock
In 1970, U.S. President Richard Nixon lifted import
quotas on oil in an attempt to reduce energy costs;
instead, however, this exacerbated dollar flight, and
created pressure from petro-dollars.
Still, the U.S. continued to draw down reserves. In 1971
it had a reserve deficit of $56 billion; as well, it had
depleted most of its non-gold reserves and had only
22% gold coverage of foreign reserves. In short, the
dollar was tremendously overvalued with respect to
gold.
22. The Collapse of BWS
The system dissolved between 1968 and 1973. In
August 1971, U.S. President Richard Nixon announced
the "temporary" suspension of the dollar's
convertibility into gold.
Since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, IMF
members have been free to choose any form of
exchange arrangement they wish.
23. Cont…
Allowing the currency to float freely.
Pegging it to another currency or a basket of
currencies
Adopting the currency of another country,
Participating in a currency bloc, or forming part of a
monetary union.
1971 marked the end of BWS.
24. The Impact of Second Amendment
IMF member states can be divided into-
IMF supplier states- Countries which have no
intention of using the IMF’s services.
IMF Consumer states- May or may not need IMF
financing for foreseeable future.
In recent times a third group has emerged, Developing
Countries, that have access to financial markets and
have large reserves.
25. Reasons for Emergence
End of communism and Emergence of
Globalization- The fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and
the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 enabled the
IMF to become a (nearly) universal institution. In
three years, membership increased from 152 countries
to 172, the most rapid increase since the influx of
African members in the 1960s.
26. Cont…
Economic Surveillance - To maintain stability and
prevent crises in the international monetary system,
the IMF reviews country policies, as well as national,
regional, and global economic and financial
developments through a formal system known
as surveillance. The IMF provides advice to its
188 member countries, encouraging policies that foster
economic stability, reduce vulnerability to economic
and financial crises, and raise living standards.
27. Cont…
Technical Assistance - The IMF provides technical
assistance and training to help member countries
strengthen their capacity to design and implement
effective policies. Technical assistance is offered in
several areas, including tax policy and administration,
expenditure management, monetary and exchange
rate policies, banking and financial system supervision
and regulation, legislative frameworks, and statistics.
28. Cont…
Lending Policies - IMF financing provides member
countries the breathing room they need to correct
balance of payments problems. In an early response
to the recent global economic crisis, the IMF
strengthened its lending capacity and approved
amajor overhaul of the mechanisms for providing
financial support in April 2009, with further reforms
adopted in August 2010 and December 2011.
29. Agenda
Addressing the global financial crisis.
Limiting the impact of high food and fuel prices on
poor.
Sovereign wealth funds, getting consensus.
Helping to reduce global payment imbalances.
Working on exchange rate stability.
Tracking global trends
Analyzing economic impact of global warming.
It is basically an international organization set up to ensure stabilization of international exchange rates and help member countries speed up their economic growth.
It also provides loans to poorer countries.
Great Depression of the 1930s, countries attempted to shore up their failing economies by sharply raising barriers to foreign trade, devaluing their currencies to compete against each other for export markets, and curtailing their citizens' freedom to hold foreign exchange. These attempts proved to be self-defeating. World trade declined sharply (see chart), and employment and living standards plummeted in many countries.
This breakdown in international monetary cooperation led the IMF's founders to plan an institution charged with overseeing the international monetary system—the system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries and their citizens to buy goods and services from each other. The new global entity would ensure exchange rate stability and encourage its member countries to eliminate exchange restrictions that hindered trade.
The headquarters of IMF is in Washington DC, USA.
But the Cold War within african nations limited the Fund's membership, with most countries in the Soviet sphere of influence not joining.
IMF collaborates with the world bank, Regional development banks, and other international bodies.
IMF collaborates closely with World bank in the area of poverty reduction and helping countries draw up poverty-reduction strategies.
Upon joining, each member country of the IMF is assigned a quota, based broadly on its relative size in the world economy.
1- A country must pay its subscription in full upon joining the IMF: up to 25 percent must be paid in the IMF's own currency, called Special Drawing rights (SDRs) or widely accepted currencies (such as the dollar, the euro, the yen, or pound sterling), while the rest is paid in the member's own currency.
2-The quota largely determines a member's voting power in IMF decisions. Each IMF member's votes are comprised of basic votes plus one additional vote for each SDR 100,000 of quota.
3-The amount of financing a member country can obtain from the IMF is based on its quota.
4-SDRs are used as an international reserve asset. A member's share of general SDR allocations is established in proportion to its quota.
The IMF's mandate and governance have evolved along with changes in the global economy, allowing the organization to retain a central role within the international financial architecture. The diagram below provides a stylized view of the IMF's current governance structure.
IMFC - The IMFC has 24 members, drawn from the pool of 187 governors. Its structure mirrors that of the Executive Board and its 24 constituencies. As such, the IMFC represents all the member countries of the Fund. The IMFC meets twice a year, during the Spring and Annual meetings. The Committee discusses matters of common concern affecting the global economy and also advises the IMF on the direction its work.
DC - The Development Committee is a joint committee, tasked with advising the Boards of Governors of the IMF and the World Bank on issues related to economic development in emerging and developing countries.
Informal discussions may be held to discuss complex policy issues still at a preliminary stage.
Holders of SDRs can obtain these currencies in exchange for their SDRs in two ways: first, through the arrangement of voluntary exchanges between members; and second, by the IMF designating members with strong external positions to purchase SDRs from members with weak external positions.
The IMF holds about 90.5 million ounces, or 2,814.1 metric tons, of gold at designated depositories. The IMF's total gold holdings are valued on its balance sheet at about $4.9 billion (SDR 3.2 billion) on the basis of historical cost. The IMF's holdings amount to about $160 billion (as determined by end-February 2012 market prices).
These credit arrangements between the IMF and a group of members and institutions can provide supplementary resources of up to roughly $26 billion (SDR 17 billion) under the General Arrangements and roughly $565 billion (SDR 370.0 billion) under the New Arrangements to the IMF.
Preparing to rebuild the main international economic system as World War II was still raging, 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations gathered at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, for the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, also known at the Bretton Woods Conference. The delegates deliberated during 1–22 July 1944, and signed the Agreement on its final day.
The dollar was pegged at the rate of $35 per ounce of Gold.
The United States was running huge balance of trade surpluses, and the U.S. reserves were immense and growing. It was necessary to reverse this flow. Dollars had to leave the United States and become available for international use. In other words, the United States would have to reverse the natural economic processes and run a balance of payments deficit.
A negative balance of payments, growing public debt incurred by the Vietnam War and Great Society programs, and monetary inflation by the Federal Reserve caused the dollar to become increasingly overvalued.
From its inception in 1944 to 1971 the fund that worked under BWS managed a system of pegged currencies and carrioed out following functions of-
1- Surveillance
2- Communication
3- Financing
4- Uniformity
5- Check on Governance Structure.
During 1990’s there was a series of financial crises that were large in scale and brought about enormous upheaval for the countries concerned. For the same IMF policies had to be re adjusted, and hence the financial support being provided had to be for shorter durations.