| What is imf { November 14 2001 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A27468-2001Nov14¬Found=truehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A27468-2001Nov14¬Found=true
What Is the IMF?
By Jessica Doyle Belvedere washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Wednesday, November 14, 2001; 12:00 AM
The International Monetary Fund’s primary function is to oversee its 183 member countries’ monetary and exchange rate policies.
The fund provides short- and mid-term financing to industrial or developing members that are unable to meet their financial obligations, thereby threatening to destabilize the value of their currencies.
When the IMF lends money it attaches conditions, often calling for economic and financial reforms. While the IMF states that it has no authority to force reforms upon a nation, critics say the fund abuses its ability to withhold financial assistance in order to compel structural changes.
The IMF operates much like a credit union. Member nations pay membership fees to the fund, the size of which is determined by that nation’s GDP, and receive voting and loan rights equivalent to their dues. The fund has at its disposal approximately $200 billion. However, members pay 75 percent of their quotas in domestic money, which has little value outside that country’s borders. Because of this, about half of the amount on the fund’s balance sheet is unusable.
© 2001 Washington Post Newsweek Interactive
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