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The International Monetary Fund

Topics: International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Bretton Woods system Pages: 29 (6754 words) Published: October 28, 2012
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rates and the balance of payments. It is an organization formed to stabilize international exchange rates and facilitate development.[2] It also offers financial and technical assistance to its members, making it an international lender of last resort. Its headquarters are located in Washington, D.C., USA. What the IMF Does

The work of the IMF is of three main types. Surveillance involves the monitoring of economic and financial developments, and the provision of policy advice, aimed especially at crisis-prevention. The IMF also lends to countries with balance of payments difficulties, to provide temporary financing and to support policies aimed at correcting the underlying problems; loans to low-income countries are also aimed especially at poverty reduction. Third, the IMF provides countries with technical assistance and training in its areas of expertise. Supporting all three of these activities is IMF work in economic research and statistics. In recent years, as part of its efforts to strengthen the international financial system, and to enhance its effectiveness at preventing and resolving crises, the IMF has applied both its surveillance and technical assistance work to the development of standards and codes of good practice in its areas of responsibility, and to the strengthening of financial sectors. The IMF also plays an important role in the fight against money-laundering and terrorism Strengthening the

International Financial System
|Transparency | |Transparency at the IMF -- A Factsheet | |  | |Standards and Codes |

|[pic] | |International Monetary Fund | |[pic] | | | |IMF member states in green | | | |Headquarters |Washington, D.C., USA | |Managing Director |Dominique Strauss-Kahn | |Central Bank of | | |Currency |Special Drawing Rights | |ISO 4217 Code |XDR | |Base borrowing rate |3.49% for SDRs[1] | |Website |www.imf.org | |Contents | |[hide] | |1 Organization and purpose | |1.1 History | |1.2 Today | |2 Data Dissemination Systems | |3 Membership qualifications...
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