International Monetary Fund

The IMF was conceived in July  1944 at a United Nations conference held at Bretton Woods , new Hampshire , USA, when representatives of 45 governments agreed on a framework for economic cooperation designed to avoid a repetition of a disastrous economic economic policies that held contributed  to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
    As a specialized agency of the United Nations system set up by treaty in 1945 , the IMF is headquartered in Washington DC and is governed now by its almost global membership of 184 countries.
    The IMF is the central institution of the international monetary system-the system of international payments and exchange rates among national currencies that enables business to take place between countries.
    It aims to prevent crisis in the system by encouraging countries to adopt sound economic policies.It is also a fund that can be tapped by members needing temporary financing to address balance of payments problesms.
    The IMF' s statutory purposes include promoting the balanced expansion of world trade, the stability of exchange rates , the avoidance of competitive currency devaluation's and orderly correction of a country's balance of payments temporary problesms.
     In order to serve these purposes , the IMF firstly monitors economic and financial developments and policies , in member countries and at the global level and gives policy advice to its members based on its more than fifty years of experience.
      For example, in its annual review of the Japanese economy for 2000, the IMF Executive Board urged the Japanese government to stimulate growth by keeping interest rate low , encouraging corporate and bank restructuring and promoting deregulation and competition.