A Guide To Committees, Groups, and Clubs
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- Published: March 11, 2024
Overview
- Political leaders and officials from around the world shape the work of the IMF through various forums and bodies.
- The IMF is described as "at the center of the coordinated global response to events in international financial markets and the world’s economies."
- Understanding what these groups do and how they work is important for informing IMF policies and operations.
- The last update was in March 2023.
International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC)
- The IMFC advises and reports to the IMF Board of Governors on the supervision and management of the international monetary and financial system, including on responses to unfolding events that may disrupt the system.
- The IMFC considers proposals by the Executive Board to amend the Articles of Agreement and advises on other matters referred by the Board of Governors.
- Although the IMFC has no formal decision-making powers, "in practice, it has become a key instrument for providing strategic direction to the work and policies of the Fund."
- Meetings and procedures:
- The IMFC usually meets twice a year, at the Bank-Fund Annual and Spring Meetings.
- For each meeting, the Managing Director prepares a draft agenda that is discussed by the Executive Board, approved by the IMFC Chair, and formally adopted by the IMFC at the meeting.
- At the end of the meetings, the Committee issues a statement summarizing its views; these statements provide guidance for the IMF’s work program during the half year leading up to the next Spring or Annual Meetings.
- Membership and governance:
- The IMFC mirrors the Executive Board and has 25 members who are central bank governors, ministers, or others of comparable rank.
- Members are usually drawn from the governors of the IMF's 191 member countries, with the newest member, Liechtenstein joining the IMF in October 2024.
- Each member country and each group of member countries that elects an Executive Director appoints a member of the IMFC.
- The group is currently chaired by Mohammed Aljadaan, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Finance. He was selected to head the Committee for a term of three years effective January 4, 2024.
- The IMFC operates by consensus, including on the selection of its chair. While there are no formal rules on term limits, since 2007 IMFC chairs have been appointed for a term of three years.
- A number of international institutions, including the World Bank, participate as observers in the IMFC’s meetings.
- IMFC Membership (selected listing as presented):
- Chair (Saudi Arabia)
- Algeria
- Brazil
- China
- India
- Japan
- Nigeria
- Saudi Arabia
- Türkiye, Republic of
- United States
Development Committee
- Official name: The Joint Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors of the Bank and Fund on the Transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries.
- Established in October 1974 to advise the Boards of Governors of the IMF and World Bank on critical development issues and on financial resources required to promote economic development in developing countries.
- The Committee usually meets twice a year following the IMFC meeting.
- The Development Committee has 25 members (usually ministers of finance or development) who together represent the full membership of the IMF and World Bank.
- The present chair is Azucena Arbeleche, Oriental Republic of Uruguay's Minister of Economy and Finance.
- Development Committee Membership (selected listing as presented):
- Chair (Uruguay, Oriental Rep. Of)
- Bahrain
- China, People's Rep. of
- Congo, Rep. of
- Italy
- Mexico
- Russia
- South Sudan, Rep. of
- United Kingdom
Group of Seven (G7)
- The G7 started annual economic summits at the level of head of state or government in 1975.
- At the level of finance minister and central bank governor, the G7 superseded the G5 during 1986–87, particularly following the Louvre Accord of February 1987.
- Since 1987, the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors have met at least semi-annually to monitor developments in the world economy and assess economic policies.
- The Managing Director of the IMF usually participates, by invitation, in the surveillance discussions of the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors.
- The G7 functions as a forum for discussion of economic and financial issues among the major industrial countries.
- G7 Membership:
- Canada
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Japan
- United Kingdom
- United States
Group of Ten (G10) and the General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB)
- The G10 refers to the group of countries that have agreed to participate in the General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB), a supplementary borrowing arrangement that can be invoked if the IMF’s resources are estimated to be below a member’s needs.
- The GAB was established in 1962 when eight IMF member governments and the central banks of two others agreed to make resources available to the IMF.
- Original participants: Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the central banks of Germany and Sweden.
- The G10 was strengthened in 1964 by the association of Switzerland, then a nonmember of the IMF, expanding its membership to 11, but the name remained G10.
- The G10 broadened its engagement with the IMF, including issuing reports that culminated in the creation of the Special Drawing Right (SDR) in 1969.
- The G10 was the forum for discussions that led to the December 1971 Smithsonian Agreement following the collapse of the Bretton Woods system.
- Official observers of the G10 activities: the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the European Commission, the IMF, and the OECD.
- G10 Membership:
- Belgium
- Canada
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Japan
- Netherlands
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- United States
Group of Fifteen (G15)
- The G15 was established at the Ninth Non-Aligned Summit Meeting in Belgrade, then Yugoslavia, in September 1989.
- Composed of countries from Latin America, Africa, and Asia with a common goal of enhanced growth and prosperity.
- Focuses on cooperation among developing countries in the areas of investment, trade, and technology.
- The membership of the G15 has since expanded to 17 countries but the name has remained unchanged.
- G15 Members (selected listing as presented):
- Algeria
- Chile
- Indonesia
- Kenya
- Nigeria
- Venezuela, República Bolivariana de
Group of Twenty (G20)
- The G20 is a group of key advanced and emerging market economies created in 1999 in the aftermath of the financial crises in the late 1990s to strengthen policy coordination, promote financial stability, and modernize the international financial architecture.
- Before 2008, G20 meetings of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors discussed international financial and monetary policies, reform of international financial institutions, and economic development issues.
- The first G20 Leaders’ Summit at the level of heads of state and government was held in November 2008.
- During 2009 Summits, the G20 assumed an increasingly active role on global economic issues, culminating in leaders designating the G20 as "the premier forum for our international economic cooperation" during their Pittsburgh Summit in 2009.
- The IMF works closely with the G20, particularly on issues related to global economic growth and international monetary and financial stability; the IMF’s work often provides a platform for G20 deliberations, and G20 agreements are taken into consideration in the IMF’s decision making process, even though such agreements have no legal status or binding effects at the IMF.
- Membership and participation:
- The membership includes heads of state and government, and finance ministers and central bank governors of the G7, 12 other key countries, and the European Union (represented by the rotating Council Presidency and the European Central Bank).
- The Managing Director of the IMF and the President of the World Bank, plus the Chairs of the IMFC and the Development Committee, participate in G20 meetings on an ex-officio basis.
- India is the 2023 chair of the G20, to be followed by Brazil in 2024.
- G20 Members (selected listing as presented):
- Argentina
- Canada
- Germany
- Italy
- Mexico
- South Africa
- United States
Group of Twenty-Four (G24)
- The G24, originally a chapter of the G77, was established in 1971 to coordinate the positions of emerging markets and developing countries on international monetary and development finance issues.
- Purpose: to ensure that emerging markets’ and developing countries’ interests were adequately represented at the Bretton Woods Institutions, particularly in the IMFC and Development Committee meetings of the IMF and World Bank.
- The group—officially called the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development—is not an organ of the IMF but the IMF provides secretariat services for the Group.
- The Ministers of the Group meet twice a year, prior to the IMFC and Development Committee meetings.
- China has been a "Special Invitee" since 1981.
- Adama Coulibaly, Minister of Finance, Côte d’Ivoire is the chair of the G24 in 2023.
- G24 Members (selected listing as presented):
- Algeria
- Colombia
- Ecuador
- Gabon
- Haiti
- Kenya
- Morocco
- Peru
- Sri Lanka
- Venezuela, República Bolivariana de
Group of Seventy-Seven (G77)
- The G77 was established on June 15, 1964, by the "Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Developing Countries" issued at the end of the first session of UNCTAD in Geneva.
- Formed to articulate and promote the collective economic interests of its members and to strengthen their joint negotiating capacity on major international economic issues in the United Nations system.
- The membership has expanded to 134 member countries but the original name has been retained.
- The Chairmanship rotates on a regional basis (between Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean) and is held for one year.
- Cuba holds the Chairmanship of the Group of 77 for the year 2023.
- G77 Members (selected listing as presented):
- Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of
- Barbados
- Brunei Darussalam
- Chad
- Costa Rica
- Egypt
- Gabon
- Guyana
- Jamaica
- Lebanon
- Maldives
- Morocco
- Niger
- Paraguay
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines
- Singapore
- Suriname
- Tonga
- Vanuatu