An international financial institution created at the Bretton Woods conference in July 1944, alongside the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, to oversee a system of fixed exchange rates and provide short-term financial assistance to member countries facing balance of payments difficulties. The Fund began formal operations in December 1945. It has since become a central actor in sovereign debt crises, attaching policy conditionality to its loans, including the bailout programs of the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 to 1998 and the debt restructuring that followed the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s.
Facts
Organization TypeInternational financial institution 1 FoundedAgreed at the Bretton Woods conference in July 1944; the Fund began formal operations in December 1945. HeadquartersWashington, D.C., United States 2 IndustryInternational finance (UN specialized agency) 3 Organization Type
Organization Type (category)International Financial Institution 1 Connections
Associated With
Provided emergency bailout loans to Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea during the crisis, attaching structural adjustment conditions that remain debated among economists and historians.
Source Asian Financial Crisis (Federal Reserve History)
This source names International Monetary Fund directly: "conference and the creation of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development."
Source Bretton Woods-GATT, 1941 to 1947 (Office of the Historian, US Department of State)
IMF program conditionality underpinned the 1989 Brady Plan that restructured the defaulted sovereign debt of Mexico and other Latin American countries.
Source The Brady Plan (Emerging Markets Trade Association)
Specialized agency of the United Nations system
This source names International Monetary Fund directly: "roles, functions and history of the International Monetary Fund, including the Bretton Woods conference and the date it began formal operations."
Source What is the International Monetary Fund? Roles, Functions and History Explained (OANDA)
In Era
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Participant In
Additional Source Why Mexico Had No Choice but to Nationalize Banks (Christian Science Monitor, 1982)US skepticism paragraph, Mexico's IMF credit negotiation
Related To
Resulted From
Additional Source Wikipedia: Bretton Woods ConferenceLead section (edge: resulted-in International Monetary Fund)
In the Other Atlases
Located In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is located.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is located.
Sources
1. Bretton Woods-GATT, 1941 to 1947 (Office of the Historian, US Department of State)
2. What is the International Monetary Fund? Roles, Functions and History Explained (OANDA)
3. Wikipedia
WikipediaIntroduction
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international financial institution and a specialized agency of the United Nations
Related To: World Bank, World Bank, relation to the IMF
The World Bank was created at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference (1-22 July 1944), along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
View the Source Asian Financial Crisis (Federal Reserve History)
Federal Reserve HistoryAssociated With: Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 to 1998View the Source The Brady Plan (Emerging Markets Trade Association)
Emerging Markets Trade AssociationAssociated With: Latin American Debt CrisisView the Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.In Era: The Contemporary PeriodView the Source Why Mexico Had No Choice but to Nationalize Banks (Christian Science Monitor, 1982)
Christian Science MonitorParticipant In: Latin American Debt Crisis, US skepticism paragraph, Mexico's IMF credit negotiationQuote, Participant In: Latin American Debt Crisis, US skepticism paragraph, Mexico's IMF credit negotiation
They could complicate Mexico's negotiation of $4.5 billion in credit from the International Monetary Fund.
Wikipedia: Bretton Woods Conference
WikipediaResulted From: Bretton Woods Conference, Lead section (edge: resulted-in International Monetary Fund)Quote, Resulted From: Bretton Woods Conference, Lead section (edge: resulted-in International Monetary Fund)
Agreements were signed that, after legislative ratification by member governments, established the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, later part of the World Bank Group) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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