IMF headquarters where is. Who owns the International Monetary Fund? History of foundation and development of the Fund

The IMF (stands for International Monetary Fund) was created in 1944, at a conference in Bretton Woods in the United States. Its goals were originally declared as follows: international cooperation in the field of finance, the expansion and growth of trade, ensuring the stability of currencies, assisting in settlements between member countries and providing them with funds in order to correct imbalances in the balance of payments. However, in practice, the Fund's activities are reduced to money-grubbing for a minority (countries and which, among other organizations, is also controlled by the IMF. Have loans from the IMF, or the IMF (transcript of the International Monetary Fund) helped countries in need? How does the Fund's work affect the world economy?

IMF: deciphering the concept, functions and tasks

IMF stands for International Monetary Fund, IMF (abbreviation) in the Russian version looks like this: International Monetary Fund. This is intended to promote foreign exchange cooperation on the basis of advising its members and providing them with loans.

The task of the Fund is to consolidate the firm parity of currencies. For this, the member states have established them in gold and US dollars, agreeing not to change them by more than ten percent without the consent of the Fund and not to deviate from this equilibrium when carrying out transactions by more than one percent.

The history of the foundation and development of the Fund

In 1944, at a conference in Bretton Woods in the United States, representatives of forty-four countries decided to create a unified basis for economic cooperation in order to avoid devaluation, the consequence of which in the thirties was the Great Depression, as well as to restore financial system between states after the war. The next year, based on the results of the conference, the IMF was created.

The USSR also took an active part in the conference and signed the Act on the establishment of the organization, but subsequently never ratified it and did not participate in the activities. But in the nineties, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia and other countries - former Soviet republics joined the IMF.

In 1999, the IMF already included 182 countries.

Governing bodies, structure and member countries

The headquarters of a specialized UN organization - the IMF - is located in Washington. The governing body of the International Monetary Fund is the Board of Governors. It includes the actual manager and deputy from each country participating in the Fund.

The Executive Board consists of 24 directors representing country groups or individual member countries. Moreover, the managing director is always a European, and his first deputy is an American.

The authorized capital is formed by contributions from the states. Currently, the IMF includes 188 countries. Based on the size of the paid quotas, their votes are distributed between countries.

The IMF data show that the largest number of votes belongs to the USA (17.8%), Japan (6.13%), Germany (5.99%), Great Britain and France (4.95% each), Saudi Arabia (3 , 22%), Italy (4.18%) and Russia (2.74%). Thus, the United States, as having the largest number of votes, is the only country that has the most important issues discussed at the IMF. And many European countries (and not only them) simply vote the same way as the United States of America.

The Fund's role in the global economy

The IMF constantly monitors the financial and monetary policies of member countries and the state of the economy around the world. To this end, government agencies are consulted every year on exchange rates. On the other hand, member states should consult with the Fund on macroeconomic issues.

To countries in need, the IMF issues loans, offering countries that they can use for a variety of purposes.

In the first twenty years of its existence, the Fund gave loans mainly to developed countries, but then this activity was reoriented to developing countries. It is interesting that around the same time the neo-colonial system began to form in the world.

Conditions for countries to receive a loan from the IMF

In order for the organization's member states to receive a loan from the IMF, they must fulfill a number of political and economic conditions.

This trend was formed in the eighties of the twentieth century, and over time it only continues to tighten.

The IMF Bank demands to carry out programs that, in fact, lead not to the country's exit from the crisis, but to curtailment of investments, cessation of economic growth and deterioration of citizens in general.

It is noteworthy that in 2007 there was a severe crisis in the organization of the IMF. Deciphering the 2008 global economic downturn, it is argued, may have been its consequence. Nobody wanted to take loans from the organization, and those countries that received them earlier, sought to pay off the debt ahead of schedule.

But there was a global crisis, everything fell into place, and even more. As a result, the IMF has tripled its resources and affects the world economy even more.

IMF - an intergovernmental monetary organization to promote international monetary cooperation on the basis of consultations of its members and the provision of loans to them.

It was created by the decision of the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 with the participation of delegates from 44 countries. The IMF began functioning in May 1946.

The International Monetary Fund collects and processes statistical data on international payments, foreign exchange resources, the size of foreign exchange reserves, etc. The IMF Charter obliges countries, when receiving loans, to provide information on the state of the country's economy, gold and foreign exchange reserves, etc. In addition, the country that took out the loan must comply with the IMF's recommendations to improve its economy.

The main task of the IMF is to maintain global stability. In addition, the task of the IMF is to inform all members of the IMF about changes in the financial and other member countries.

More than 180 countries of the world are IMF members. When joining the IMF, each country contributes a certain amount of money as a membership fee, which is called a quota.

• education for lending to member countries;
• determining the amount that a country can receive in case of financial difficulties;
• determining the number of votes that a participating country receives.

The quotas are reviewed periodically. The USA has the highest quota and, accordingly, the number of votes (it is just over 17%).

The procedure for granting loans

The IMF provides loans only for stabilizing the economy, bringing it out of the crisis, but not for economic development.

The procedure for granting loans is as follows: provided for a period of 3 to 5 years at slightly below the market. The loan is transferred in installments, in tranches. The interval between tranches can be from one to three years. This procedure is designed to control the use of credit. If the country does not fulfill its obligations to the IMF, then the transfer of the next tranche is postponed.

Before granting a loan, the IMF runs a consultation system. Several representatives of the fund travel to the country that applied for a loan, collect statistical information on various economic indicators (price level, employment level, tax revenues, etc.) and draw up a report on the results of the study. The Report is then discussed at a meeting of the IMF's Executive Board, which makes recommendations and suggestions for improvement. economic situation country.

• Promote international monetary cooperation within a permanent institution providing a mechanism for consultation and collaboration on international monetary issues.
• Contribute to the expansion and balanced growth of international trade and thereby achieve and maintain high levels of employment and real incomes, as well as the development of productive resources of all member states.
• Promote stability of currencies, maintain an orderly exchange rate regime among member states and avoid using currency devaluations to gain a competitive advantage.
• Assist in the establishment of a multilateral settlement system for current transactions between Member States, as well as in removal of currency restrictionshindering growth.
• By providing the general resources of the Fund temporarily to Member States, subject to adequate safeguards, build their confidence, thereby ensuring the ability to correct imbalances in their balance of payments without the use of measures that could harm national or international welfare.

IMF organization

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), like the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD (later - the World Bank), is a Bretton Woods an international organization... The IMF and IBRD formally belong to the specialized agencies of the UN, but from the very beginning they rejected the coordinating and leading role of the UN, citing the complete independence of their financial sources.

The creation of these two structures was initiated by the Council on Foreign Relations, one of the most influential semi-secret organizations traditionally associated with the implementation of the mondialist project.

The task of creating such structures was brewing as the end of World War II and the collapse of the colonial system approached. The question of the formation of the post-war international monetary and financial system and the creation of relevant international institutions, in particular interstate organization, which would be designed to regulate monetary and settlement relations between countries. The US bankers were especially persistent in their support.

Plans to create a special body to "streamline" currency settlement relations were developed by the United States and Great Britain. In the American plan, it was proposed to establish a "United Nations Stabilization Fund", the member states of which would have to commit themselves not to change the exchange rates and parities of their currencies, expressed in gold and a special monetary unit without the consent of the Fund, not to set currency restrictions on current operations and not enter into any bilateral (“discriminatory”) clearing and payment agreements. In turn, the Fund would provide them with short-term loans in foreign currency to cover the current balance of payments deficits.

This plan was beneficial to the United States - an economically powerful power, with a higher competitiveness of goods in comparison with other countries and a steadily active balance of payments at that time.

An alternative English plan, developed by the famous economist J.M. Keynes, envisaged the creation of an "international clearing union" - a credit and settlement center designed to carry out international settlements using a special supranational currency ("bankor") and ensure a balance in payments, especially between the United States and all other states. Within the framework of this union, it was supposed to preserve closed currency groupings, in particular the sterling zone. The aim of the plan, designed to preserve the position of Great Britain in the countries of the British Empire, was to strengthen its monetary and financial positions largely at the expense of American financial resources and with minimal concessions to the ruling circles of the United States in matters of monetary policy.

Both plans were considered at the United Nations monetary and financial conference, held in Bretton Woods (USA) from July 1 to 22, 1944. Representatives of 44 states took part in the conference. The struggle that unfolded at the conference ended in the defeat of Great Britain.

The final act of the conference included the Articles of Agreement (charter) on the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. December 27, 1945 The Articles of Agreement on the International Monetary Fund formally entered into force. In practice, the IMF began operations on March 1, 1947.

The money for the creation of this supra-governmental organization came from J.P. Morgan, J.D. Rockefeller, P. Warburg, J. Schiff and other "international bankers."

The USSR took part in the Bretton Woods Conference, but did not ratify the Articles of Agreement on the IMF.

IMF activities

The IMF is designed to regulate monetary relations of member states and provide short and medium term loans in foreign currency. The International Monetary Fund provides most of its loans in US dollars. During its existence, the IMF has become the main supranational body for regulating international monetary and financial relations. The seat of the governing bodies of the IMF is Washington (USA). This is quite symbolic - in the future it will be seen that the IMF is almost completely controlled by the United States and the countries of the Western alliance and, accordingly, in terms of management and operation, by the FRS. It is no coincidence, therefore, that these actors and, first of all, the above-mentioned “club of beneficiaries” also receive real benefits from the activities of the IMF.

The IMF's official goals are as follows:

• "To promote international cooperation in the currency and financial sphere";
• “To promote the expansion and balanced growth of international trade” in order to develop productive resources, achieve high levels of employment and real incomes of the member states;
• “Ensure the stability of currencies, maintain orderly monetary relations among member states and prevent currency depreciation in order to gain a competitive advantage”;
• to assist in the creation of a multilateral settlement system between the member states, as well as in the elimination of currency restrictions;
• temporarily provide member states with foreign currency funds that would enable them to “correct imbalances in their balance of payments”.

However, based on the facts that characterize the results of the IMF's activities throughout its history, a different, real picture of its goals is being reconstructed. They again allow us to talk about a system of world acquisitiveness in favor of the minority that controls the World Monetary Fund.

As of May 25, 2011, 187 countries are members of the IMF. Each country has a quota expressed in SDRs. The quota determines the amount of capital subscription, the ability to use the fund's resources and the amount of SDRs received by the member state when they are next distributed. The capital of the International Monetary Fund has steadily increased since its inception, with the quotas of the most economically developed member countries increasing at a particularly fast pace (Figure 6.3).

The United States (SDR 42,122.4 million), Japan (SDR 15,628.5 million) and Germany (SDR 14,565.5 million) have the largest quotas in the IMF, and Tuvalu has the smallest (SDR 1.8 million). The IMF operates the principle of a "weighted" number of votes, when decisions are made not by a majority of equal votes, but by the largest "donors" (Figure 6.4).

Together, the United States and the countries of the Western Alliance have more than 50% of the vote against a few percent of China, India, Russia, Latin American or Islamic countries. From which it is obvious that the former have a monopoly on decision-making, that is, the IMF, like the Fed, is controlled by these countries. When the most important strategic issues are raised, including the reform of the IMF itself, only the United States has the right to veto.

The United States, along with other developed countries, has a simple majority in the IMF. Over the past 65 years, European countries and other economically prosperous countries have always voted in solidarity with the United States. Thus, it becomes clear in whose interests the IMF functions and by whom it implements its geopolitical goals.

Requirements of the Articles of Agreement (charter) of the IMF / IMF Members

Joining the IMF is mandatory for a country to comply with the rules governing its foreign economic relations. The Articles of Agreement set out the universal obligations of the member states. The IMF's statutory requirements are primarily aimed at liberalizing foreign economic activity, in particular, the monetary and financial sphere. It is obvious that the liberalization of the external economy of developing countries provides enormous benefits to economically developed countries, opening up markets for their more competitive products. At the same time, the economies of developing countries, which, as a rule, need protectionist measures, suffer heavy losses, and entire industries (not related to the sale of raw materials) become ineffective and die. In section 7.3, the statistical generalization allows you to see such results.

The Charter requires the member states to remove currency restrictions and maintain the convertibility of national currencies. Article VIII contains the obligations of member states not to impose restrictions on payments on current balance of payments transactions without the consent of the fund, as well as to refrain from participating in discriminatory exchange agreements and not to resort to the practice of multiple exchange rates.

If in 1978 46 countries (1/3 of the IMF members) undertook obligations under Article VIII to prevent currency restrictions, then in April 2004 there were already 158 countries (more than 4/5 of the members).

In addition, the IMF charter obliges member states to cooperate with the fund in pursuing exchange rate policy. Although the Jamaican amendments to the charter gave countries the opportunity to choose any exchange rate regime, in practice, the IMF is taking measures to establish a floating exchange rate of leading currencies and peg the monetary units of developing countries to them (primarily to the US dollar), in particular, it introduces a currency board ). It is interesting to note that China's return to a fixed exchange rate in 2008 (Figure 6.5), which caused strong discontent with the IMF, is one of the explanations why the global financial and economic crisis did not actually affect China.

Russia, on the other hand, followed the instructions of the IMF in its “anti-crisis” financial and economic policy, and the impact of the crisis on the Russian economy turned out to be the hardest not only in comparison with comparable countries of the world, but even in comparison with the overwhelming majority of countries in the world.

The IMF carries out constant "strict supervision" over the macroeconomic and monetary policies of the member states, as well as the state of the world economy.

The highest governing body in the IMF is the Board of Governors, in which each member country is represented by a governor (usually finance ministers or central bank governors) and his deputy.

The Council is responsible for resolving key issues of the IMF's activities: amendments to the Articles of Agreement, admission and exclusion of member countries, determination and revision of their shares in capital, election of executive directors. The Governors meet in session, usually once a year, but may meet and vote by mail at any time.

The Board of Governors delegates many of its powers to the Executive Board, that is, the directorate that is responsible for the conduct of the IMF's affairs, covering a wide range of political, operational and administrative matters, such as lending to member countries and overseeing their policies. in the field of exchange rates.

Since 1992, 24 executive directors have been represented on the executive board. Currently, out of 24 CEOs, 5 (21%) have an American education. The IMF's Executive Board selects a Managing Director for a five-year term, who heads the fund's staff and chairs the executive board. Among the 32 representatives of the IMF top management, 16 (50%) were educated in the United States, 1 worked in a transnational corporation, and 1 taught at an American university.

The Managing Director of the IMF, according to informal agreements, is always European, and his first deputy is always American.

The role of the IMF

The IMF provides loans in foreign currency to member countries for two purposes: first, to cover the balance of payments deficit, that is, in fact, to replenish official foreign exchange reserves; secondly, to support macroeconomic stabilization and structural restructuring of the economy, and hence to lend to government budget expenditures.

A country in need of foreign currency purchases or borrows foreign currency or SDRs in exchange for an equivalent amount in local currency, which is credited to the IMF's account with its central bank as depository. At the same time, the IMF, as noted, provides loans mainly in US dollars.

During the first two decades of its activity (1947-1966), the IMF lent to a greater extent developed countries, which accounted for 56.4% of the amount of loans (including 41.5% of the funds received by Great Britain). Since the 1970s. The IMF has refocused its activities on lending to developing countries (Figure 6.7).

It is interesting to note the time line (late 1970s), after which the world neo-colonial system began to form actively, replacing the collapsed colonial system. The main mechanisms for lending from the IMF resources are as follows.

Reserve share. The first "portion" of foreign currency that a member state can acquire from the IMF within 25% of the quota was called "gold" before the Jamaican Agreement, and since 1978 - a reserve tranche.

Credit shares. Foreign currency funds that can be acquired by a Member State in excess of the reserve share are divided into four credit tranches, each 25% of the quota. Access of member states to the IMF's credit resources within the framework of loan shares is limited: the amount of a country's currency in the IMF's assets cannot exceed 200% of its quota (including 75% of the quota contributed by subscription) The maximum loan amount that a country can get from the IMF as a result of using the reserve and loan shares is 125% of its quota.

Stand-by arrangements. This mechanism has been used since 1952. This practice of providing loans is the opening of a credit line. Since the 1950s. and until the mid-1970s. standby loan agreements had a term of up to a year, from 1977 - up to 18 months, later - up to 3 years, due to the increase in deficits in the balance of payments.

Extended fund facility has been in use since 1974. Within the framework of this mechanism, loans are provided for even longer periods (for 3-4 years) in larger amounts. The use of stand-by loans and extended loans - the most common lending mechanisms before the global financial and economic crisis - is associated with the fulfillment of certain conditions by the borrowing state, which require it to carry out certain financial and economic (and often political) measures. At the same time, the severity of the conditions increases with the transition from one credit share to another. Some conditions must be met even before receiving a loan.

If the IMF considers that the country is using the loan “contrary to the goals of the fund”, does not fulfill the requirements put forward, it can restrict its further lending, refuse to provide the next loan tranche. This mechanism allows the IMF to effectively manage the borrowing country.

After the expiration of the specified period, the borrowing state is obliged to repay the debt (“buy back” the national currency from the Fund) by returning it funds in SDRs or foreign currencies. Stand-by loans are repaid within 3 years and 3 months - 5 years from the date of receipt of each tranche, with extended lending - 4.5-10 years. In order to accelerate the turnover of its capital, the IMF "encourages" more rapid repayment of loans received by debtors.

In addition to these standard mechanisms, the IMF has special lending mechanisms. They differ in purpose, conditions and cost of loans. Special credit facilities include the following: Compensatory Credit Facility, CFF (Com pen sato ry i nancing facility, CFF), is designed to lend to countries whose balance of payments deficits are caused by temporary and external causes beyond their control. The supplemental reserve facility (SRF), a lending facility, was introduced in December 1997 to provide funds to member states experiencing “exceptional balance of payments difficulties” and in dire need of expanded short-term lending due to a sudden loss of confidence in the currency. which causes capital flight from the country and a sharp reduction in its gold and foreign exchange reserves. This loan is supposed to be provided in cases where capital flight could pose a potential threat to the entire world. monetary system.

Emergency assistance is designed to help overcome the balance of payments deficit caused by unpredictable natural disasters (since 1962) and crisis situations as a result of civil unrest or military-political conflicts (since 1995). The emergency financing mechanism (EFM) (since 1995) is a set of procedures that ensure the accelerated provision of loans by the fund to member states in the event of an emergency crisis in the field of international settlements, which requires immediate assistance from the IMF.

The trade integration mechanism (TIM) was established in April 2004 in connection with the possible temporary negative consequences for a number of developing countries of the results of negotiations on the further expansion of international trade liberalization in the framework of the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization. This mechanism is designed to provide financial support to countries that experience a deterioration in the balance of payments due to measures taken towards liberalization of trade policies by other countries. However, MPTI is not an independent credit mechanism in the literal sense of the word, but a certain political setting.

Such a wide representation of the IMF's multi-purpose loans indicates that the fund offers its borrowing countries its instruments in almost any situation.

The poorest countries (below the threshold for GDP per capita) that are unable to pay interest on conventional loans are provided by the IMF with concessional “aid”, although the share of concessional loans in total IMF loans is extremely small (Figure 6.8).

In addition, the tacit guarantee of solvency provided by the IMF as a “bonus” along with the loan extends to more economically powerful players in the international arena. Even a small loan from the IMF makes it easier for the country to access the world loan capital market, helps to obtain loans from the governments of developed countries, central banks, the World Bank Group, the Bank for International Settlements, as well as from private commercial banks. Conversely, the refusal of the IMF in credit support to the country closes its access to the loan capital market. In such conditions, countries are simply forced to apply to the IMF, even if they understand that the conditions put forward by the IMF will have disastrous consequences for the national economy.

In fig. 6.8 also shows that at the beginning of its activity the IMF played a rather modest role as a creditor. However, since the 1970s. there was a significant expansion of its lending activities.

Conditions for granting loans

The provision of loans by the fund to member states is associated with the fulfillment of certain political and economic conditions. This procedure is called "conditionality" of loans. Officially, the IMF justifies this practice by the need to have confidence that the borrowing countries will be able to repay their debts, ensuring an uninterrupted circulation of the Fund's resources. In fact, a mechanism for external management of borrowing states has been built.

Since the IMF is dominated by monetarist, more broadly, neoliberal theoretical views, its "practical" stabilization programs usually include cuts in public spending, including for social purposes, the elimination or reduction of government subsidies for food, consumer goods and services (which leads to higher prices on these goods), an increase in income taxes individuals (with a simultaneous reduction in business taxes), curbing the growth or "freezing" of wages, raising discount rates, limiting the volume of investment lending, liberalizing foreign economic relations, devaluation of the national currency, followed by an increase in the cost of imported goods, etc.

The concept of economic policy, which is now the content of the conditions for obtaining IMF loans, was formed in the 1980s. in the circles of leading economists and business circles of the United States, as well as other Western countries, and is known as the "Washington Consensus".

It presupposes such structural changes in economic systems as the privatization of enterprises, the introduction of market pricing, and the liberalization of foreign economic activity. The IMF sees the main (if not the only) reason for the imbalance in the economy and the imbalance of international settlements in borrowing countries in the excess aggregate effective demand in the country, caused primarily by the state budget deficit and excessive expansion of the money supply.

The implementation of IMF programs most often leads to a curtailment of investments, a slowdown in economic growth, and an aggravation of social problems. This is due to a decrease in real wages and living standards, an increase in unemployment, a redistribution of income in favor of the wealthy strata at the expense of less well-to-do population groups, and an increase in property differentiation.

As for the former socialist states, from the point of view of the IMF, an obstacle to solving their macroeconomic problems is institutional and structural defects, therefore, when granting a loan, the fund orients its requirements towards the implementation of long-term structural changes in their economic and political systems.

The IMF is pursuing a very ideological policy. In fact, it finances the restructuring and inclusion of national economies in global speculative capital flows, i.e. their "binding" to the global financial metropolis.

With the expansion of lending operations in the 1980s. The IMF has taken a course to tighten their conditionality. It was then that the use of structural conditions in IMF programs became widespread, in the 1990s. it has increased significantly.

It is not surprising that the IMF's recommendations to recipient countries in most cases are directly opposite to the anti-crisis policy of developed countries (Table 6.1), which practice countercyclical measures - the drop in demand from households and businesses in them is compensated by increased government spending (benefits, subsidies, etc. p.) by expanding the budget deficit and increasing the national debt. In the midst of the global financial and economic crisis of 2008, the IMF supported such a policy in the US, EU and China, but prescribed a different "medicine" for its "patients". "31 out of 41 agreements on IMF assistance provide for procyclical, ie, tighter monetary or fiscal policy," - noted in a report by the Washington Center for Economic and political studies (Center for Economic and Policy Research).

These double standards have always existed and many times have led to large-scale crises in developing countries. The application of the IMF recommendations is focused on the formation of a monopolar model of the development of the world community.

The role of the IMF in the regulation of international monetary and financial relations

The IMF periodically makes changes to the world monetary system. Firstly, the IMF acted as a conductor of the policy adopted by the West at the initiative of the United States to demonetize gold and weaken its role in the world monetary system. Initially, the IMF's Articles of Agreement gave gold an important place in its liquid resources. The first step towards the elimination of gold from the postwar international monetary mechanism was the termination by the United States in August 1971 of the sale of gold for dollars belonging to the authorities of other countries. In 1978, the IMF's charter was amended to prohibit member countries from using gold as a means of expressing the value of their currencies; at the same time, the official price of gold in dollars and the gold content of the SDR unit were abolished.

The International Monetary Fund has played a leading role in expanding the influence of multinational corporations and banks to emerging and emerging economies. Providing these countries in the 1990s. borrowed resources of the IMF greatly contributed to the activation of the activities of transnational corporations and banks in these countries.

In connection with the process of globalization of financial markets, the Executive Board in 1997 initiated the development of new amendments to the Articles of Agreement of the IMF in order to make the liberalization of capital operations a special purpose of the IMF, to include them in its sphere of competence, i.e. to extend to them the requirement to abolish foreign exchange restrictions. The IMF Interim Committee adopted a special statement on capital liberalization at its September 21, 1997 session in Hong Kong, urging the executive board to expedite amendments to "add a new chapter to the Bretton Woods agreement." However, the development of the world currency and financial crises in 1997-1998. slowed down this process. Some countries have been forced to introduce capital controls. Nevertheless, the IMF remains committed to lifting restrictions on international capital flows.

In the context of the analysis of the causes of the global financial crisis of 2008, it is also important to note that the International Monetary Fund relatively recently (since 1999) came to the conclusion that it was necessary to extend its area of \u200b\u200bresponsibility to the sphere of functioning of world financial markets and financial systems.

The IMF's intention to regulate international financial relations caused changes in its organizational structure... First, in September 1999, the International Monetary and Financial Committee was formed, which became a permanent body for strategic planning of the IMF's activities on issues related to the functioning of the world monetary and financial system.

In 1999, the IMF and the World Bank adopted a joint Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), which is intended to provide member countries with tools to assess the health of their financial systems.

In 2001, a department for international capital markets was created. In June 2006, the Monetary Systems and Capital Markets Department (MSCMD) was established. Less than 10 years have passed since the moment when the global financial sphere was included in the competence of the IMF and since the beginning of its "regulation", when the world's largest financial crisis broke out.

IMF and the world financial and economic crisis of 2008

One important point should be noted. In 2007, the world's largest financial institution was in a deep crisis. At that time, practically no one took or expressed a desire to take loans from the IMF. In addition, even those countries that received loans earlier tried to get rid of this financial burden as soon as possible. As a result, the size of ordinary outstanding loans fell to a record for the 21st century. marks - less than 10 billion SDR (Fig. 6.9).

The world community, with the exception of the beneficiaries of the IMF's activities in the person of the United States and other economically developed countries, actually rejected the IMF mechanism. And then something happened. Namely, the global financial and economic crisis broke out. The number of agreements on new loans, which was tending to zero before the crisis, has grown at an unprecedented rate in the history of the fund's activities (Fig. 6.10).

The crisis that began in 2008 literally saved the IMF from collapse. Is this coincidence a coincidence? One way or another, the global financial and economic crisis of 2008 was extremely beneficial to the International Monetary Fund, and hence to those countries in whose interests it functions.

After the global crisis of 2008, it became clear that the IMF needed reform. By the beginning of 2010, the total losses of the global financial system exceeded $ 4 trillion (about 12% of the world's gross product), two thirds of which are generated in the unreliable assets of American banks.

In what direction did the reform go? First of all, the IMF has tripled its resources. Since the London G20 summit in April 2009, the IMF has received colossal additional lending reserves of more than $ 500 billion, in addition to the $ 250 billion already available, although it uses less than $ 100 billion for aid programs. it became clear that the IMF wants to take on even more powers to manage the global economy and finances.

The trend is to gradually transform the IMF into a macroeconomic policy controller in almost every country in the world. It is obvious that in the conditions of such "reforming" new world crises are inevitable.

This chapter of the monograph uses material from M.V. Deeva.

International Monetary Fund (IMF), (International Monetary Fond, IMF) is an intergovernmental organization designed to regulate monetary relations between states and provide financial assistance to member countries to eliminate currency difficulties caused by imbalances in the balance of payments. The IMF was established at the International Monetary and Financial Conference (July 1-22, 1944) in Bretton Woods (USA, New Hampshire). The Foundation began its practical activities on March 1, 1947.

The USSR also took part in the work of the Bretton Woods Conference. However, subsequently, in connection with " cold war"between the East and the West, he did not ratify the Agreement on the formation of the IMF. For the same reason, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Cuba left the IMF during the 50-60s. As a result of deep socio-economic and political reforms in the early 90s • former socialist countries, as well as states that were previously part of the USSR, joined the IMF (with the exception of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Cuba).

Currently, the IMF members are 182 countries (see Fig. 4). Any country conducting an independent foreign policy and ready to accept the rights and obligations provided by the IMF Charter.

The IMF's official goals are to:

• promote balanced growth in international trade;
• maintain the stability of exchange rates;
• promote the creation of a multilateral system of settlements on current transactions between the members of the Fund and the elimination of currency restrictions that hinder the growth of international trade;
• to provide member countries with credit resources allowing to regulate the imbalance of temporary payments without using restrictive measures in the field of foreign trade and settlements;
• serve as a forum for consultation and cooperation in the field of international monetary issues.

Responsible for the smooth operation of the global monetary and payment system, the Fund pays special attention to the state of liquidity on a global scale, i.e. the level and composition of reserves held by Member States for trade and payment needs. One of the important functions of the Fund is also to provide additional liquidity to its members through the allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR). SDR (or SDR) is an international accounting unit used as a conventional scale for comparing international requirements and obligations, establishing currency parity and exchange rate, as an international means of payment and reserve. The value of SDRs is determined based on the average value of the five major currencies of the world (before January 1, 1981 - sixteen currencies). The determination of the share of each currency is made taking into account the country's share in international trade, but for the US dollar, its share in international settlements is taken into account. To date, 21.4 billion SDRs have been issued with an aggregate value of about US $ 29 billion, which is about 2% of all reserves.

The Fund has significant general resources to finance temporary imbalances in the balance of payments of its members. To use them, the Member State must provide the Fund with a compelling justification for the need arisen, which may be related to the balance of payments, reserve position or changes in reserves. The IMF provides its resources on the basis of equality and non-discrimination, taking into account the social and domestic political goals of the member states. Fund policy gives them the opportunity to use IMF financing already at early stage the emergence of problems in the field of balance of payments.

At the same time, the Fund's assistance helps to overcome imbalances in payments without applying trade and payment restrictions. The Fund plays the role of a kind of catalyst, since changes in the directions of policies pursued by states in the implementation of programs supported by IMF resources help to attract additional financial assistance from other sources. Finally, the Fund acts as a financial intermediary, ensuring the redistribution of funds from those countries where there is a surplus to countries where there is a deficit.

IMF governance structure

1. The highest governing body is the Board of Governors, in which each member country is represented by a governor and his deputy. In most cases, the fund managers are finance ministers, or central bankers, or others in a similar position. The Governing Council elects a chairman from among its members. The Council is responsible for resolving the most important, fundamental issues of the IMF's activities, such as admitting and expelling members of the Fund, determining and revising the size of quotas, distributing net income, and choosing executive directors. The Governors meet in sessions to discuss the activities of the Fund once a year, but they can vote at any time by mail.

The IMF is organized in the form of a joint stock company, and therefore the ability of each participant to influence its activities is determined by the share in the capital. In accordance with this, the IMF operates the principle of the so-called "weighted" number of votes: each member state has 250 "basic" votes (regardless of the size of the contribution to the Fund's capital) and an additional one vote for every 100 thousand SDR units of its share in this capital. In addition, when voting on certain issues, creditor countries receive an additional vote for every $ 400,000 in loans they make on election day, through a corresponding reduction in the number of debtor countries' votes. This arrangement leaves the decisive word in the management of the IMF for the countries that have invested the most in it.

Decisions in the IMF Board of Governors are mainly taken by a simple majority (at least half) of votes, and on the most important issues (for example, amending the Charter, establishing and revising the size of the share of member countries in the capital, a number of issues of the functioning of the SDR mechanism, policy in the field of exchange rates, etc.) by a "special (qualified) majority", which currently provides for two categories: 70% and 85% of the total vote of the member countries.

The current IMF Charter provides that the Board of Governors can decide on the establishment of a new permanent governing body - the Council at the level of ministers of member countries to oversee the regulation and adaptation of the world monetary system. But it has yet to be created, and its role is played by the 22-member Provisional Committee of the Board of Governors on the World Monetary System, established in 1974. However, unlike the intended Council, the Interim Committee does not have the power to make policy decisions.

2. The Board of Governors delegates many of its powers to the Executive Board, i.e. The Directorate, which is responsible for the conduct of the Foundation and operates from its headquarters in Washington.

3. The Executive Board of the IMF appoints a Managing Director who heads the Fund's administration and is in charge of day-to-day affairs. Traditionally, the managing director must be European or (at least) non-American. Since 2000, the Managing Director of the IMF is Horst Keller (Germany).

4. IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics, which includes representatives from industrialized and developing countries. It advises on the broader application of statistics in the compilation of balances of payments, coordinates the basic statistical survey of portfolio investments, and carries out research on the recording of flows associated with derivative finance.

Capital. The IMF's capital is made up of subscription contributions from member countries. Each country has a quota expressed in SDRs. A member's quota is the most important element of its financial and organizational relationship with the Fund. First, the quota determines the number of votes in the Fund. Secondly, the size of the quota is based on the scale of the IMF member's access to the financial resources of the organization in accordance with the established limits. Third, the quota determines the IMF member's share in the allocation of SDRs. The Charter does not provide methods for determining the quotas of IMF members. At the same time, from the very beginning, the size of quotas was associated, although not on a rigid basis, with such economic factorshow national income and the volume of foreign trade and payments. The Ninth General Review of Quotas used a set of five formulas agreed upon during the Eighth General Review, resulting in "settlement quotas" that provide a general measure of the relative position of IMF members in the global economy. These formulas use economic data on the government's gross domestic product (GDP), current transactions, fluctuations in current receipts, and government reserves.

The USA, as the country with the highest economic performance, made the largest contribution to the IMF, accounting for about 18% of the total amount of quotas (about 35 billion US dollars); the state of Palau, which joined the IMF in December 1997, has the smallest quota and has contributed about US $ 3.8 million.

Until 1978, 25% of the quota was paid for in gold, at present - with reserve assets (SDR or freely usable currencies); 75% of the subscription amount is in local currency, usually provided to the Fund in the form of promissory notes.

The IMF Charter provides that in addition to its own capital, which is the main source of financing its activities, the Fund has the ability to use borrowed funds in any currency and from any source, i.e. borrow them from both the authorities and the private equity market. To date, the IMF has received loans from treasuries and central banks of member countries, as well as from Switzerland, which was not a member until May 1992, and from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). As for the private money market, he has not yet resorted to its services.

IMF lending activities. Financial transactions of the IMF are carried out only with the official bodies of member countries - treasuries, central banks, foreign exchange stabilization funds. The Fund's resources can come at the disposal of its members through a range of approaches and mechanisms, differing mainly in the types of problems of financing the balance of payments deficit, as well as the level of conditions imposed by the IMF. Moreover, these conditions are a composite criterion that includes three separate elements: the state of the balance of payments, the balance of international reserves and the dynamics of the reserve position of countries. These three elements, which determine the need for financing the balance of payments, are considered separate and each of them can serve as a basis for submitting a request for funding to the Fund.

A country in need of a foreign currency purchases freely usable currency or SDRs in exchange for an equivalent amount of its national currency, which is credited to the IMF's account with the country's central bank.

The IMF charges borrowing countries a one-time commission of 0.5% of the transaction amount and a certain fee, or interest rate, for loans it provides, which is based on market rates.

After the expiration of the established period, the member country is obliged to perform the reverse operation - to redeem its national currency from the Fund, returning the borrowed funds to it. Usually, this operation, which means in practice the repayment of the previously received loan, must be carried out within a period of 3 1/4 to 5 years from the date of purchase of currency. In addition, the borrowing country should make an early repurchase of its surplus currency for the Fund as the state of its balance of payments improves and foreign exchange reserves increase. Loans are considered repaid also if the national currency of the debtor country in the IMF is bought by another member state.

The access of member countries to the IMF credit resources is limited by some nuances. According to the original Charter, they consisted of the following: first, the amount of currency received by a member country in the twelve months preceding its new application to the Fund, including the amount requested, should not have exceeded 25% of the country's quota; secondly, the total amount of a given country's currency in the IMF's assets could not exceed 200% of its quota (including 75% of the quota contributed to the Fund by subscription). In the revised Charter in 1978, the first limitation was removed. This allowed member countries to use their opportunities to receive currency from the IMF in a shorter period than the five years that were needed to do so before. As for the second condition, in exceptional circumstances, its effect may be suspended.

Technical assistance. The International Monetary Fund also provides technical assistance to member countries. It is carried out through the sending of missions to central banks, ministries of finance and statistical bodies of the countries that have requested such assistance, sending experts to these bodies for 2-3 years, conducting an examination of the legislative documents being prepared. Technical assistance is expressed in the IMF's assistance to member countries in the areas of monetary and exchange rate policy and banking supervision, statistics, development of financial and economic legislation, and training.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an intergovernmental monetary organization with the status of a specialized UN agency. The task of the fund is to promote international monetary cooperation and trade, coordinate the monetary and financial policies of the member countries, provide them with loans to settle the balance of payments and maintain exchange rates.

The decision to create the IMF was made by 44 states at a conference on monetary and financial issues held in Bretton Woods (USA) from July 1 to 22, 1944. On December 27, 1945, 29 states signed the foundation's charter. The authorized capital amounted to 7.6 billion dollars. The first financial operations of the IMF began on March 1, 1947.

The IMF members are 184 countries.

The IMF has the authority to create and provide international financial reserves to its members in the form of "Special Drawing Rights" (SDRs). SDR is a system of granting mutual loans in conventional monetary units - SDRs, equated in gold content to the US dollar.

The Fund's financial resources are generated mainly through subscriptions ("quotas") of the IMF member states, the total amount of which is currently about $ 293 billion. Quotas are determined based on the relative size of the economies of the member states.

The main financial role of the IMF is to provide short-term loans. Unlike the World Bank, which lends to poor countries, the IMF lends only to its member countries. The credits of the fund are disbursed through the normal channels to the member states in tranches, or shares equal to 25% of the quota of the member state concerned.

Russia signed an agreement on joining the IMF as an associate member on October 5, 1991, and on June 1, 1992, it officially became the 165th member of the IMF by signing the Fund's Charter.

On January 31, 2005, Russia fully repaid its debt to the International Monetary Fund by making a payment of 2.19 billion Special Drawing Rights (SDR), the equivalent of $ 3.33 billion. Thus, Russia saved $ 204 million, which it had to pay in case of repayment of the debt to the IMF according to the schedule until 2008.

The highest governing body of the IMF is the Board of Governors, in which all member countries are represented. The Council meets annually.

The day-to-day work is directed by an Executive Board of 24 executive directors. The five largest shareholders of the IMF (US, UK, Germany, France and Japan), as well as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia, have their own seats on the Council. The remaining 16 executive directors are elected for two-year terms by country groups.

The Managing Director is elected by the Executive Board. The Managing Director is the Chairman of the Board and Chief of Staff of the IMF. He is appointed for a five-year term, with the possibility of re-election.

According to the agreement between the US and the EU countries, the IMF is traditionally headed by Western European economists, while the chairman of the World Bank is chosen by the United States. Since 2007, the procedure for nominating candidates has changed - any of the 24 members of the board of directors has the opportunity to nominate a candidate for the post of managing director, and he can be from any country-member of the fund.

The first Managing Director of the IMF was Camille Goutte, a Belgian economist and politician and former finance minister who headed the Fund from May 1946 to May 1951.