International Monetory fund

1. IMF
TheInternationalMonetaryFund(IMF)promotesinternationalfinancialstabilityandmonetarycooperation.Italsoseekstofacilitateinternationaltrade, promotehighemploymentandsustainableeconomicgrowth,andreducepovertyaroundtheworld.Createdin1945,theIMFisgovernedbyandaccountabletothe188countriesthatmakeupitsnear-globalmembership.
Group 4

2. Back Ground
Membership: 188 countries
Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
Executive Board: 24 Directors representing countries or groups of countries
Staff: Approximately 2,600 from 142 countries
Total quotas: US$362 billion (as of 8/28/14)
Additional pledged or committed resources: US$1 trillion
Committed amounts under current lending arrangements (as of 8/28/14): US$185 billion, of which US$161 billion have not been drawn
Biggest borrowers (amount outstanding as of 8/28/14): Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Ukraine
Biggest precautionary loans (amount agreed as of 8/28/14): Mexico, Poland, Colombia, Morocco
Surveillance consultations: 122 consultations in 2012 and 122 in 2013
Technical assistance: 246 person years in FY2013

3. Governance and organization & Objectives
The IMF is accountableto the governments of its member countries. At the top of its organizational structure is the board of governors, which consists of one governor and one alternate governor from each member country. The board of governors meets once each year at the imf-world bank annual meetings. Twenty-four of the governors sit on the international monetary and financial committee (IMFC) and normally meet twice each year.
The day-to-day work of the imfis overseen by its 24-member executive board, which represents the entire membership; this work is guided by the imfcand supported by the imfstaff. A proposed amendment of the imf’sarticles of agreement will introduce for the first time an executive board whose members are all elected. The managing director is the head of the IMF staff and chairman of the executive board and is assisted by four deputy managing directors.
The imf’sobjectives
The imf'sprimary purpose is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system—the system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries (and their citizens) to transact with each other.
The fund’s mandate was updated in 2012 to include all macroeconomic and financial sector issues that bear on global stability.

4. Services
Surveillance
Financial assistance
Technical assistance
Special Drawing Rights

5. History of IMF
•It’s an organization of 186 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation , secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic and reduce poverty.
•The IMF is the most detailed attempt to organize the conduct of the international monetary affairs.
•The IMF was created in July 1944, originally with 45 members, with a goal to stabilize exchange rates and assist the reconstruction of the world’s international payment system. Countries contributed to a pool which could be borrowed from, on a temporary basis, by countries with imbalances.

6. Findings
Its ensure stability in international system by:
1. Surveillance: Scrutiny of economic and financial policies of member countries
2. Technical Assistances: Design and implementation of economics policies
3. Lending: Loans meant to tackle balance of payments problems, economics stabilization and restore sustainable growth

7. Research Methodology
The External Balance Assessment (EBA) methodology has been developed by the IMF’s
EBA is a successor to the former CGER exercise, on which EBA builds.
It comprises three methods :
oTwo methods are panel regression-based analyses of the current account and real exchange rate.
othe third method is model-free and focused on sustainability analysis.
Two stages of the regression-based methods:
oThe first stage is positive (descriptive) and focused on understanding current account and real exchange rate developments
oThe second stage provides estimates that are more suitable for a normative evaluation of current accounts and real exchange rates.

8. Conclusion
It is easy to target IMF, but it is hard to understand it’s criticality in the world economy