The Imf Formula: Generating Poverty - International Monetary Fund - Statistical Data Included

Ecologist, The, Sept, 2000 by John Cavanagh, Carol Welch, Simon Retallack

John Cavanagh is the Director of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC. He is co-author (with Sarah Anderson and Thea Lee) of Field Guide to the Global Economy (New Press, 2000). Carol Welch is an International Policy Analyst at Friends of the Earth USA, and Simon Retallack is the Managing Editor of The Ecologist's special issues.

The IMF: Key Facts

Name: International Monetary Fund

Location: Washington DC

Established: 27 December 1945

Created at: the Bretton Woods conference, 1944

Membership: 182 countries

Credits and loans outstanding (as of 31 December 1999): US $75 billion to 93 countries

Staff: 2,700

Managing Director: Horst Kohler (Germany)

Decision-making: operates on principle: "one dollar one vote", so G7 (USA, UK, Japan, Germany, France, Canada and Italy) plus other EU states hold 57 per cent of voting power

Main functions:

* Provide Financial Assistance: loans extended to member countries with balance of payments problems -- to support policies of 'adjustment' that facilitate international trade, and to shield private investors and banks from large losses when their investments go bad

* Provide Technical Assistance: to help design and implement free market economic reforms in member countries

* Undertake Financial Surveillance: to appraise members' monetary policies