About the IMF

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The IMF is a global organization that works to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for all of its 191 member countries.
It supports economic policies that promote financial stability and monetary cooperation to increase productivity, job creation, and economic well-being.
The IMF is governed by and accountable to its member countries.

Membership: 191 member countries.
Founding membership: The IMF was founded by 44 member countries.
Establishment: The IMF was established in 1944 in the aftermath of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Lending capacity: The IMF is able to lend about $1 trillion to its member countries.

Policy advice
- Monitoring economic and financial developments and advising countries.
Financial assistance
- Loans and other financial aid to member countries.
Capacity development
- Technical assistance and training to help governments implement sound economic policies.

Board of Governors
- The Board of Governors consists of one governor (usually the minister of finance or the governor of the central bank) and one alternate governor from each member country.
- All powers of the IMF are vested in the Board of Governors.
Executive Board and management
- The day-to-day work of the IMF is overseen by its 25-member Executive Board, which represents the entire membership and is supported by IMF 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.
Departments
- The IMF has 18 departments that carry out its country, policy, analytical, and technical work.

Workforce: The IMF’s global workforce is about 3,100 staff.
Diversity: Staff hail from over 162 countries.
Core Fund values: excellence, honesty, impartiality, inclusion, integrity, and respect.

Trade
- Emphasis on open, stable, and transparent trade policies as key for economic growth, resilience, and addressing global challenges such as climate change, food security, and underdevelopment.
Fiscal policy
- Fiscal policy is the use of government spending and taxation to influence the economy; the IMF monitors and analyzes global fiscal trends and advises member countries on fiscal issues.
Sovereign debt
- Recognizes that the ability to carry debt varies widely among countries and that debt vulnerabilities have increased especially in low-income countries and some emerging market economies.

Financing
- The IMF's resources mainly come from the money that countries pay as their capital subscription (quotas) when they become members.
- Each member of the IMF is assigned a quota, based broadly on its relative position in the world economy, from which countries can borrow when they fall into financial difficulty.
Research
- Economic research is a core activity dedicated to fostering a deeper understanding of the global economy by analyzing economic trends, challenges, and their implications for individual countries and the international community.
- Research covers exchange rates, fiscal policy, monetary policy, and global financial stability, and supports real-time advice, capacity development, and member support.