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CIAO Focus, June 2011: The IMF and Global Economic Recovery

Fast Facts on the IMF

Membership: 187 countries
Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
Executive Board: 24 Directors representing countries or groups of countries
Staff: Approximately 2,500 from 160 countries
Total quotas: US$376 billion (as of 5/25/11)
Additional pledged or committed resources: US$600 billion
Loans committed (as of 5/25/11): US$280 billion, of which US$215 billion have not been drawn
Biggest borrowers (amount agreed as of 5/25/11): Greece, Portugal,Ireland
Biggest precautionary loans (amount agreed as of 5/25/11): Mexico, Poland, Colombia
Surveillance consultations: Consultations concluded for 120 countries in FY2010 and for 88 countries in FY2011 as of 02/11/11
Technical assistance: Field delivery in FY2010—192.5 person years
Transparency: In 2009, over 90 percent of Article IV and program-related staff reports and policy papers were published
Original aims: Article I of the Articles of Agreement sets out the IMF’s main goals:

• promoting international monetary cooperation;
• facilitating the expansion and balanced growth of international trade;
• promoting exchange stability;
• assisting in the establishment of a multilateral system of payments; and
• making resources available (with adequate safeguards) to members experiencing balance of payments difficulties    

--International Monetary Fund

 

From the CIAO Database:

Austerity and the IMF

Current Account Imbalances Coming Back

Sovereign Bankruptcy in the European Union in the Comparative Perspective

Reform of the Global Financial Architecture

The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on the Budgets of Low-Income Countries

Why Didn't the Global Economic and Financial Crisis Have More of an Impact on International Migration?

 

Outside Sources: *

What Caused the Global Financial Crisis - Evidence on the Drivers of Financial Imbalances 1999 – 2007 (IMF Working Paper)
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2010/wp10265.pdf

How to Stop a Herd of Running Bears? Market Response to Policy Initiatives during the Global Financial Crisis (IMF Working Paper)
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2009/wp09204.pdf

Dan Rather Interview with Dominique Strauss-Kahn
http://blip.tv/hdnet/dan-rather-reports-422-imf-2740986

More Countries Turn to IMF For Help As Crisis Deepens (Video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0z6nWQfvuA&feature=channel_page

IMF: The History of Financial Crisis (Video) 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EMI1p6d8Ak&feature=related

* Outside links are not maintained. For broken outside links, CIAO recommends the Way Back Machine.