Everything You Need to Know About the IMF (Video)

What is the International Monetary Fund (IMF), how does it work, and who runs it?  Why does the IMF lend money to countries in need and under which conditions? All these questions and more will be answered in this article by Faydety.

What is the International Monetary Fund?

According to the IMF’s official website the IMF’s goal is “to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for all of its 190 member countries. 

It does so by supporting economic policies that promote financial stability and monetary cooperation, which are essential to increase productivity, job creation, and economic well-being. The IMF is governed by and accountable to its member countries”.

What is the difference between the World Bank Group and the IMF? Find out more here 

3 vital functions of the IMF

The Fund has three vital missions through which it operates, they are:

• To promote international monetary cooperation. 
• To encourage trade expansion and economic growth. 
• To limit policies that can harm prosperity.

To achieve these three tasks, IMF member countries work collaboratively with each other and with other international bodies to improve the lives of citizens.

More about the loan that Egypt will take from the IMF here 

Who runs the IMF?

The IMF is accountable to the governments of its member countries, and at the head of its organizational structure is the Board of Governors, which consists of a governor and an alternate governor from each member country. 

They are usually senior officials of the central bank or the Ministry of Finance. The Board of Governors meets once a year at the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings.

The International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) has twenty-four members of the Board of Governors serving on it. The International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) advises the IMF’s Executive Board.

The day-to-day work of the Fund is overseen by the Executive Board, which includes 24 members representing all members of the Fund, and is supported by the Fund's staff. 

The Managing Director is the head of the IMF staff and Chair of the Executive Board, and is assisted by four Deputy Managing Directors.   

Don’t miss the video by late Egyptian economist Dr. Salah Gouda where he explains how the IMF works in simple terms and how & why it gives loans to countries.