Q1 International Monetary Fund

The IMF is an international organization of 185 member countries. It was established to promote international monetary cooperation, exchange stability, and orderly exchange arrangements; to foster economic growth and high levels of employment; and to provide temporary financial assistance to countries to help ease balance of payments adjustment.

Generally, the goals of the IMF were: (1) to promote international monetary cooperation by providing the means for members to consult on international monetary issues; (2) to facilitate the growth of international trade and foster a multilateral system of international payments; (3) to promote exchange-rate stability and seek the elimination of exchange restrictions that disrupt international trade; (4) to establish a system of multilateral payments; and (5) to make short-term financial resources available to member nations on a temporary basis so as to allow them to correct payments disequilibria without resorting to measures that would destroy national prosperity.

The IMF and World Bank collaborate regularly and at many levels on assistance to member countries and are involved in several joint initiatives.

Regular collaboration: Collaboration on country assistance is underpinned by regular meetings between 英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】the staffs of the IMF and the Bank as well as routine exchanges of information.
Joint initiatives: During the 1990s, the IMF and World Bank together launched two major initiatives to help poor countries.
High-level coordination: The Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the IMF and the World Bank provide another forum for Fund-Bank collaboration.

The IMF is helping low-income countries make progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and contributing to the approach embodied in the Monterrey Consensus through each of the Fund's three key functions—lending, technical assistance, and surveillance.

Some countries, however, do not like the IMF. The IMF gains leverage over countries through its “conditionality” requirements. Countries asking for loans from the IMF must agree to conditions set by the IMF to receive their funds. The conditions address recommended exchange rates and domestic policies aimed at improving the countries’ international payments imbalance. Fund conditions have sometimes become controversial political issues in borrowing countries, as nationalistic pride and domestic-policy goals may be hurt by the policies required by the IMF. For instance, a frequent condition imposed is reducing government subsidies of domestic consumer goods and allowing more free markets. It may be very difficult, politically, for a government to raise the price of bread or milk in a poor c 本文来自：英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】