The Imf

Grambling State University |

The International Monetary Fund |

The Developing Country’s Perspective |

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4/26/2013 |

This treatise provided a brief history and overview of the International Monetary Fund. It highlighted sources of funding and “lender” countries, criteria for assistance as a low-income “borrower” country, and contract terms of loans dispersed to the low-income, developing countries. It further discussed the pros and cons on the receiving end of these contractual loan obligations, and analyzed the overall impact of borrowing from the debtor’s perspective. Lastly, this paper assessed and critiqued the IMF’s assistance to low income countries in the form of a literary review. The overall effect on borrowing countries and findings were further elaborated in the conclusion. |

Introduction:

Post the Great Depression of the 1930s, and in conjunction with World War II, countries all over the world were “sharply raising barriers to foreign trade, devaluing their currencies to compete against each other for export markets, and curtailing their citizens' freedom to hold foreign exchange” (imf.org). These measures turned out to be a catalyst to their economic problems, making them more dominant than before. In July 1944, forty-five countries around the world gathered in New Hampshire and envisioned an “institution charged with overseeing the international monetary system” (imf.org). Approximately a year later, in December 1945, an Agreement was signed, and the International Monetary Fund, also known as the IMF, sprung into existence.

Fast forwarding to the present century, the International Monetary fund consists of 188 member countries, and its headquarters rests in Washington, D.C. The IMF has established a set of primary goals and aims, which include fostering global monetary cooperation, securing financial stability, facilitating international trade, promoting high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reducing poverty around...