IMF functions briefly. International Monetary Fund (IMF)

International Monetary Fund- IMF, a financial institution of the United Nations. One of the main functions of the IMF is to issue loans to states to compensate for balance of payments deficits. The issuance of loans, as a rule, is linked to a set of measures recommended by the IMF to improve the economy.

The International Monetary Fund is a special institution of the UN. The head office is located in the capital of the United States - Washington.

The International Monetary Fund was founded in July 44 of the last century, but only in March 1947 it began its practice, issuing short-term and medium-term loans to needy countries in conditions of a lack of the country's balance of payments.

The IMF is an independent organization operating according to its own charter, the goal is to establish cooperation between countries in the field of monetary finance, as well as stimulate international trade.

Functions of the IMF boils down to the following steps:

  • promoting cooperation between states on financial policy issues;
  • growth in the level of trade in the world services market;
  • providing loans;
  • balancing;
  • advising debtor states;
  • development of an international framework for monetary reporting and statistics;
  • publication of statistics in the region.

The powers of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) include actions to form and issue financial reserves to participants using a special form “Special privileges for borrowing.” The IMF's resources come from the signatures, or “quotas,” of the fund's participants.

At the top of the IMF pyramid is the general board of managers, which includes the head and his deputy of the fund's member country. Most often, the role of manager is the minister of finance of the state, or the governor of the Central Bank. It is the meeting that decides all the main issues regarding the activities of the International Monetary Fund. The executive board, which consists of twenty-four directors, is responsible for formulating the fund's policies and carrying out its actions. The privilege of choosing the head is enjoyed by 8 countries that have the largest quota in the fund. These include almost all countries from the G8.

The IMF's Executive Board selects a steward for the next five years to lead the overall staff. From the second summer month 2011, the head of the IMF is Frenchman Christine Lagarde.

Impact of the International Monetary Fund on the global economy

The IMF issues loans to countries in a couple of cases: to pay off payment deficits and maintain macroeconomic stability of states. A country that needs additional foreign currency purchases it or borrows it, providing in exchange the same amount, only in the currency that is official in that country and is deposited into the IMF current account.

In order to strengthen international economic cooperation within international relations and creating prosperous economies, organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were conceived in 1944. Despite similar ideas, the tasks and functions of the two organizations are somewhat different.

Thus, the IMF supports the development of international relations in the field of financial security by providing short- and medium-term loans, as well as advice on economic policy and maintaining financial stability.

In turn, the World Bank is taking measures to allow countries to achieve economic potential and also reduce the poverty threshold.

By collaborating in a variety of areas, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are helping countries reduce poverty by easing debt burdens. Twice a year, the organizations hold a joint meeting.

Cooperation between the IMF and Belarus began in July 1992. It was on this day that the Republic of Belarus became a member of the International Monetary Fund. Belarus' initial quota was just over SDR 280 million, which was later increased to SDR 386 million.

The IMF assists the Republic of Belarus in three vectors:

  • cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Belarus on programs in the field of the national economy, focusing on tax, monetary and trade policies;
  • provision of resources in the form of loans and ;
  • expert and technical assistance.

The IMF provided assistance to Belarus financial assistance twice. So in 1992, the Republic of Belarus was provided with a loan in the amount of 217.2 million US dollars for systemic transformations in. And another 77.4 million under the stand-by loan agreement. By the beginning of 2005, the country had paid the IMF in full.

The second time, the country's leadership turned to the IMF in 2008, with a request to again provide lending through the stand-by system. The financing program was agreed upon in January 2009 and the Republic of Belarus was allocated 2.46 billion US dollars for a period of fifteen months. The amount was later increased to US$3.52 billion.

The implemented programs allowed the Republic of Belarus to maintain stability in the foreign exchange market, the stability of the financial system, avoid a balance of payments deficit and do the impossible - reduce it, reducing it to a minimum.

In 2015, Belarus repaid its obligations to the IMF under the loan provided under the stand-by program.

The Belarusian authorities are negotiating to receive a new IMF loan in the amount of $3 billion at 2.3% for a period of 10 years. To allocate a loan, the IMF calls on Belarus to implement a comprehensive strategy of economic reforms.

At the beginning of 2017, the main issues of the negotiations were changing housing and communal services tariffs and improving the work of the public sector of the economy. The IMF calls for a number of reforms in relation to state-owned enterprises in order to increase their productivity and efficiency, and also recommends defining a sequence of measures to achieve full cost recovery in the housing and communal services sector.

Increases in housing tariffs public utilities and the privatization of state-owned enterprises are the key topics in negotiations with the IMF. For its part, the country’s foreign policy department believes that in matters of increasing tariffs in housing and communal services, as well as privatization of the public sector, we should move step by step.

As the IMF notes, improving the country's business climate is of great importance, including through accession to the WTO and the development of competition in commodity markets. The country also needs to pursue prudent monetary policy to maintain macroeconomic and financial stability.

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The International Monetary Fund, the IMF is, first of all, specialized institution United Nations (UN), headquartered in Washington, USA. It is worth noting that although the IMF was created with the support of the UN, it is an independent organization.

The International Monetary Fund was created relatively recently - at the Bretton Woods Conference, on monetary and financial issues on July 22, 1944, the basis of the agreement was developed ( IMF Charter).

The most significant contributions to the development of the IMF concept were made by John Maynard Keynes, who headed the British delegation, and Harry Dexter White, a senior official at the US Treasury Department. The final version of the agreement was signed by the first 29 states on December 27, 1945 - the official date of the creation of the IMF. The IMF began operations on March 1, 1947, as part of the Bretton Woods system. In the same year, France took out its first loan. Currently, the IMF unites 187 countries, and its structures employ 2,500 people from 133 countries.

The IMF provides short- and medium-term loans when there is a deficit in the state's balance of payments. The provision of loans is usually accompanied by a set of conditions and recommendations aimed at improving the situation.

The IMF's policies and recommendations regarding developing countries have been repeatedly criticized, the essence of which is that the implementation of recommendations and conditions are ultimately aimed not at increasing the independence, stability and development of the national economy of the state, but only at tying it to international financial flows.

international monetary fund lending

    1. Main goals and functions of the IMF and structure of governing bodies

The main objectives of the International Monetary Fund are:

1. “the need to promote international cooperation in the monetary and financial sphere”;

2. “promoting the expansion and balanced growth of international trade” in the interests of developing productive resources, achieving high level employment and real income of Member States;

3. “ensuring the stability of currencies, maintaining orderly monetary relations among member states” and striving to prevent “currency depreciation in order to gain competitive advantages”;

4. providing assistance in creating a multilateral settlement system between member states, as well as in eliminating currency restrictions;

5. temporary provision of foreign currency funds to member states to enable them to “correct imbalances in their balance of payments.”

The main functions of the IMF are:

1. promoting international cooperation in monetary policy

2. expansion of world trade

3. lending

4. stabilization of monetary exchange rates

5. consulting debtor countries

6. development of standards for international financial statistics

7. collection and publication of international financial statistics

The highest governing body of the IMF is the Board of Governors, in which each member country is represented by a governor and his deputy. These are usually finance ministers or central bankers. The Council is responsible for resolving key issues of the Fund’s activities: amending the Articles of Agreement, admitting and expelling member countries, determining and revising their shares in the capital, and electing executive directors. Governors usually meet in session once a year, but may hold meetings and vote by mail at any time.

The authorized capital is about 217 billion SDR (special unit for the right to borrow) (as of January 2011, 1 SDR was equal to approximately 1.5 US dollars). It is formed by contributions from member states, each of which usually pays approximately 25% of its quota in SDRs or in the currencies of other members, and the remaining 75% in its own national currency. Based on the size of quotas, votes are distributed among member countries in the governing bodies of the IMF.

The largest number of votes in the IMF (as of June 16, 2010) are: USA - 17.8%; Germany - 5.99%; Japan - 6.13%; Great Britain - 4.95%; France - 4.95%; Saudi Arabia - 3.22%; Italy - 4.18%; Russia - 2.74%. The share of 15 EU member countries is 30.3%, 29 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have a combined 60.35% of votes in the IMF. The share of other countries, making up over 84% of the Fund's membership, accounts for only 39.75%.

The IMF operates on the principle of a “weighted” number of votes: the ability of member countries to influence the Fund’s activities through voting is determined by their share in its capital. Each state has 250 “basic” votes, regardless of the size of its contribution to the capital, and an additional one vote for every 100 thousand SDR of the amount of this contribution. If a country bought (sold) SDRs received during the initial issue of SDRs, the number of its votes increases (decreases) by 1 for every 400 thousand purchased (sold) SDRs. This adjustment is made by no more than 1/4 of the number of votes received for the country's contribution to the capital of the Fund. This arrangement ensures a decisive majority of votes for the leading states.

Decisions in the Board of Governors are usually made by a simple majority (at least half) of the votes, and on important issues of an operational or strategic nature - by a “special majority” (70 or 85% of the votes of member countries, respectively).

Despite some reduction specific gravity US and EU votes, they can still veto key decisions of the Fund, the adoption of which requires a maximum majority (85%). This means that the United States, together with leading Western countries, has the opportunity to exercise control over the decision-making process in the IMF and direct its activities based on their interests. With coordinated action, developing countries are also able to prevent decisions that do not suit them. However, achieving consistency across a large number of disparate countries is difficult, so the intention was to “enhance the ability of developing and transition countries to participate more effectively in the decision-making machinery of the IMF.”

Significant role in organizational structure The IMF plays the International Monetary and Financial Committee. It consists of 24 IMF governors, including from Russia, and meets twice a year. This committee is an advisory body of the Board of Governors and has no power to make policy decisions. However, it performs important functions:

ь directs the activities of the Executive Council;

b develops strategic decisions related to the functioning of the global monetary system and the activities of the IMF;

b submits to the Board of Governors proposals for amendments to the Articles of Agreement of the IMF.

A similar role is also played by the Development Committee - the Joint Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank and the Fund.

The Board of Governors delegates many of its powers to the Executive Board, a directorate that is responsible for conducting the affairs of the IMF, which includes a wide range of political, operational and administrative issues, such as providing loans to member countries and overseeing their policies. exchange rate.

The IMF Executive Board elects a Managing Director for a five-year term, who heads the Fund's staff (as of March 2009 - about 2,478 people from 143 countries). He must be a representative of one of the European countries. Managing Director (since November 2007) - Dominique Strauss-Kann (France), his first deputy - John Lipsky (USA).

The head of the IMF permanent mission in Russia is Neven Mathes.

Manager. Elected by the Executive Board, the IMF Governor chairs the Executive Board and is the organization's chief of staff. Under the direction of the Executive Board, the Governor is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the IMF. The manager is appointed for five years and may be re-elected for a further term.

Staff. The Articles of Agreement require personnel appointed to the IMF to demonstrate the highest standards of professionalism and technical competence, and reflect the internationality of the organization. Approximately 125 nations are represented among the organization's 2,300 employees.

We present to your attention a chapter from a monograph about the International Monetary Fund, which analyzes in detail the entire anatomy of this financial institution and its role in the global financial scheme.

Organization of the IMF

The International Monetary Fund, IMF, like the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IBRD (later the World Bank), is a Bretton Woods international organization. The IMF and IBRD formally belong to specialized agencies of the UN, but from the very beginning of their activities they rejected the coordinating and leadership role of the UN, citing complete independence their financial sources.

The creation of these two structures was initiated by the Council on Foreign Relations, one of the most influential semi-secret organizations traditionally associated with the implementation of the globalist project.

The task of creating such structures became more urgent as the end of the Second World War and the collapse of the colonial system approached. The question of the formation of a post-war international monetary and financial system and the creation of relevant international institutions, especially an interstate organization that would be designed to regulate currency and settlement relations between countries, became urgent. US bankers were especially persistent in advocating this.

Plans for the creation of a special body to “streamline” currency and settlement relations were developed by the United States and Great Britain. The American plan proposed the establishment of a “United Nations Stabilization Fund”, the participating states of which would have to undertake obligations not to change, without the consent of the Fund, the rates and parities of their currencies, expressed in gold and a special unit of account, and not to establish currency restrictions on current transactions and not enter into any bilateral (“discriminatory”) clearing and payment agreements. In turn, the Fund would provide them with short-term loans in foreign currency to cover current balance of payments deficits.

This plan was beneficial to the United States, an economically powerful power with higher competitiveness of goods compared to other countries and a steadily active balance of payments at that time.

Alternative English plan, developed by the famous economist J.M. Keynes, envisaged the creation of an “international clearing union” - a credit and settlement center designed to carry out international settlements using a special supranational currency (“bancor”) and ensure balance in payments, especially between the United States and all other countries . Within the framework of this union, it was intended to maintain closed currency groups, in particular the sterling zone. The goal of the plan, designed to maintain Britain's position in the countries of the British Empire, was to strengthen its monetary and financial positions largely at the expense of American financial resources and with minimal concessions to the US ruling circles in matters of monetary policy.

Both plans were considered at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, held in Bretton Woods (USA) from July 1 to July 22, 1944. Representatives of 44 states took part in the conference. The struggle that unfolded at the conference ended in the defeat of Great Britain.

The final act of the conference included Articles of Agreement (charter) on the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. December 27, 1945 The Articles of Agreement for the International Monetary Fund officially came into force. In practice, the IMF began operations on March 1, 1947.

Money for the creation of this supra-governmental organization came from J. P. Morgan, J. D. Rockefeller, P. Warburg, J. Schiff and other “international bankers.”

The USSR took part in the Bretton Woods Conference, but did not ratify the Articles of Agreement on the IMF.

Activities of the IMF

The IMF is intended to regulate monetary and credit relations of member states and provide short- and medium-term loans in foreign currency. The International Monetary Fund provides most of its loans in US dollars. During its existence, the IMF has become the main supranational body regulating international monetary and financial relations. The seat of the IMF's governing bodies is Washington (USA). This is quite symbolic - in the future it will be seen that the IMF is almost completely controlled by the United States and the countries of the Western alliance and, accordingly, in managerial and operational terms - by the Fed. It is no coincidence, therefore, that these actors and, first of all, the above-mentioned “club of beneficiaries” also receive real benefits from the IMF’s activities.

The official objectives of the IMF are:

  • “to promote international cooperation in the monetary and financial sphere”;
  • “to promote the expansion and balanced growth of international trade” in the interests of developing productive resources, achieving high levels of employment and real incomes of member states;
  • “to ensure the stability of currencies, maintain orderly monetary relations among member states and prevent the depreciation of currencies in order to gain competitive advantages”;
  • provide assistance in the creation of a multilateral settlement system between member states, as well as in the elimination of exchange restrictions;
  • provide member states with temporary funds in foreign currencies that would enable them to “correct imbalances in their balance of payments.”

However, based on the facts characterizing the results of the IMF's activities throughout its history, a different, real picture of its goals is reconstructed. They again allow us to talk about a system of global acquisitiveness in favor of a minority that controls the World Monetary Fund.

As of May 25, 2011, 187 countries are members of the IMF. Each country has a quota expressed in SDR. The quota determines the amount of capital subscription, the possibility of using the fund's resources and the amount of SDRs received by a member state during their next distribution. The capital of the international monetary fund has constantly increased since its formation, with quotas for the most economically developed countries-members (Fig. 6.3).



The United States (SDR 42,122.4 million), Japan (SDR 15,628.5 million) and Germany (SDR 14,565.5 million) have the largest quotas in the IMF, and Tuvalu has the smallest (SDR 1.8 million). The IMF operates on the principle of a “weighted” number of votes, when decisions are made not by a majority of equal votes, but by the largest “donors” (Fig. 6.4).



In total, the United States and the countries of the Western alliance have more than 50% of the votes against a few percent of China, India, Russia, Latin American or Islamic countries. From which it is obvious that the former have a monopoly on decision-making, i.e. the IMF, like the Fed, is controlled by these countries. When critical strategic issues are raised, including issues of reform of the IMF itself, only the United States has veto power.

The United States, along with other developed countries, has a simple majority of votes in the IMF. For the past 65 years, European countries and other economically prosperous countries have always voted in solidarity with the United States. Thus, it becomes clear in whose interests the IMF functions and by whom it implements the geopolitical goals set.

Requirements of the Articles of Agreement (Charter) of the IMF/IMF Members

Joining the IMF necessarily requires a country to comply with the rules governing its foreign economic relations. The Articles of Agreement set out the universal obligations of member states. The IMF's statutory requirements are aimed primarily at liberalizing foreign economic activity, in particular foreign exchange financial sector. It is obvious that the liberalization of the external economy of developing countries provides enormous advantages to economically developed countries, opening markets for their more competitive products. At the same time, the economies of developing countries, which, as a rule, need protectionist measures, suffer large losses, entire industries (not related to the sale of raw materials) become ineffective and die. In Section 7.3, statistical generalization allows us to see such results.

The Charter requires member states to eliminate currency restrictions and maintain the convertibility of national currencies. Article VIII contains the obligations of member states not to impose restrictions on current account payments without the fund's consent, as well as to refrain from participating in discriminatory exchange rate agreements and not resorting to the practice of multiple exchange rates.

If in 1978 46 countries (1/3 of the IMF members) assumed obligations under Article VIII to avoid currency restrictions, then in April 2004 there were already 158 countries (more than 4/5 of the members).

In addition, the IMF's charter obliges member states to cooperate with the fund in the conduct of exchange rate policy. Although the Jamaican amendments to the charter gave countries the opportunity to choose any exchange rate regime, in practice the IMF takes measures to establish a floating exchange rate for leading currencies and link the monetary units of developing countries to them (primarily the US dollar), in particular, it introduces a currency board regime ). It is interesting to note that China's return to a fixed exchange rate in 2008 (Figure 6.5), which caused strong dissatisfaction with the IMF, is one of the explanations why the global financial and economic crisis actually did not affect China.



Russia, in its “anti-crisis” financial and economic policy, followed the instructions of the IMF, and the blow of the crisis on the Russian economy turned out to be the most severe not only in comparison with comparable countries in the world, but even in comparison with the vast majority of countries in the world.

The IMF maintains ongoing “close surveillance” of the macroeconomic and monetary policies of its member countries, as well as the state of the global economy.

This involves regular (usually annual) consultations with government agencies of member states regarding their exchange rate policies. At the same time, member states are obliged to consult with the IMF on issues of macroeconomic as well as structural policy. In addition to traditional surveillance targets (eliminating macroeconomic imbalances, reducing inflation, implementing market reforms), the IMF, after the collapse of the USSR, began to pay more attention to structural and institutional transformations in member countries. And this already calls into question the political sovereignty of the states subject to “supervision”. The structure of the International Monetary Fund is shown in Fig. 6.6.

Supreme governing body The IMF has a Board of Governors, in which each member country is represented by a governor (usually finance ministers or central bankers) and his deputy.

The council is responsible for resolving key issues of the IMF's activities: amending the Articles of Agreement, admitting and expelling member countries, determining and revising their shares in capital, and electing executive directors. Governors usually meet in session once a year, but may hold meetings and vote by mail at any time.

The Board of Governors delegates many of its powers to the Executive Board, a directorate that is responsible for conducting the affairs of the IMF, which includes a wide range of political, operational and administrative issues, such as providing credit to member countries and overseeing their policies. in the field of exchange rates.

Since 1992, there have been 24 executive directors on the executive board. Currently, out of 24 executive directors, 5 (21%) have an American education. The IMF's Executive Board elects a Managing Director for a five-year term, who heads the fund's staff and is the chairman of the executive board. Among the 32 representatives of the IMF's top management, 16 (50%) were educated in the United States, 1 worked for a transnational corporation, and 1 taught at an American university.

The managing director of the IMF, according to informal agreements, is always European, and his first deputy is always American.

Role of the IMF

The IMF provides loans in foreign currency to member countries for two purposes: first, to cover balance of payments deficits, i.e., in fact, to replenish official foreign exchange reserves; secondly, to support macroeconomic stabilization and structural restructuring of the economy, and therefore to finance government budget expenditures.

A country in need of foreign currency purchases or borrows foreign currency or SDRs in exchange for an equivalent amount in domestic currency, which is deposited in the IMF's account with its central bank as depository. At the same time, the IMF, as noted, provides loans mainly in US dollars.

During the first two decades of its activity (1947–1966), the IMF lent to a greater extent to developed countries, which accounted for 56.4% of the loan amount (including 41.5% of the funds received by Great Britain). Since the 1970s The IMF refocused its activities on providing loans to developing countries (Figure 6.7).


It is interesting to note the time limit (late 1970s), after which the global neocolonial system began to actively take shape, replacing the collapsed colonial one. The main lending mechanisms using IMF resources are as follows.

Reserve share. The first “portion” of foreign currency that a member country can purchase from the IMF, within the limits of 25% of the quota, was called “golden” before the Jamaica Agreement, and since 1978 - the reserve tranche.

Credit shares. Funds in foreign currency that can be purchased by a member state in excess of the reserve share are divided into four credit tranches, each representing 25% of the quota. Member states' access to IMF credit resources within the framework of credit shares is limited: the amount of a country's currency in IMF assets cannot exceed 200% of its quota (including 75% of the quota contributed by subscription). The maximum loan amount that a country can receive from the IMF through the use of reserve and credit shares is 125% of its quota.

Reserve loans stand-by arrangements. This mechanism has been used since 1952. This practice of providing loans is the opening of a line of credit. Since the 1950s and until the mid-1970s. agreements on standby loans had a term of up to a year, from 1977 - up to 18 months, later - up to 3 years, due to an increase in balance of payments deficits.

Extended fund facility has been in use since 1974. Under this mechanism, loans are provided for even longer periods (3–4 years) in larger amounts. The use of stand-by loans and extended loans - the most common credit mechanisms before the global financial and economic crisis - is associated with the fulfillment by the borrower state of certain conditions providing for the implementation of certain financial and economic (and often political) measures. At the same time, the degree of severity of conditions increases as you move from one credit share to another. Some conditions must be met before receiving a loan.

If the IMF considers that a country is using a loan “contrary to the goals of the fund” and does not fulfill the requirements, it may limit its further lending and refuse to provide the next loan tranche. This mechanism allows the IMF to actually manage the borrowing country.

Upon expiration of the established period, the borrowing state is obliged to repay the debt (“repurchase” the national currency from the Fund), returning to it the funds in SDRs or foreign currencies. Stand-by loans are repaid within 3 years and 3 months - 5 years from the date of receipt of each tranche, for extended lending - 4.5–10 years. In order to speed up the turnover of its capital, the IMF “encourages” faster repayment of loans received by debtors.

In addition to these standard mechanisms, the IMF has special lending mechanisms. They differ in the purposes, conditions and cost of loans. Special lending facilities include the following. The compensatory lending facility, MCC (com pen sato ry i nancing facility, CFF), is intended for lending to countries whose balance of payments deficit is caused by temporary and external factors beyond their control. The supplementary reserve facility (SRF) was introduced in December 1997 to provide funds to member countries experiencing “exceptional balance of payments difficulties” and in dire need of expanded short-term lending due to sudden loss confidence in the currency, which causes capital flight from the country and a sharp reduction in its gold and foreign exchange reserves. This credit is supposed to be provided in cases where capital flight could pose a potential threat to the entire global monetary system.

Emergency assistance is designed to help overcome balance of payments deficits caused by unpredictable natural disasters (since 1962) and crisis situations resulting from civil unrest or military-political conflicts (since 1995). Emergency Financing Mechanism (EFM) (since 1995) is a set of procedures that ensures the Fund’s accelerated provision of loans to member states in the event of an emergency crisis situation in the field of international payments, which requires immediate assistance from the IMF.

The Trade Integration Mechanism (TIM) was created in April 2004 in response to the possible temporary negative consequences for a number of developing countries of the results of negotiations on further expansion of international trade liberalization within the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization. This mechanism is intended to provide financial support to countries whose balance of payments is deteriorating due to measures taken to liberalize trade policies by other countries. However, MPTI is not an independent credit mechanism in the literal sense of the word, but a certain political setting.

Such a wide representation of multi-purpose IMF loans indicates that the fund offers borrowing countries its instruments in almost any situation.

For the poorest countries (those with GDP per capita below a certain threshold) that are unable to pay interest on conventional loans, the IMF provides preferential “assistance,” although the share of concessional loans in total IMF loans is extremely small (Figure 6.8).

In addition, the tacit guarantee of solvency provided by the IMF as a “bonus” along with the loan extends to more economically powerful players in the international arena. Even a small IMF loan facilitates the country’s access to the global loan capital market, helps to obtain loans from the governments of developed countries, central banks, groups World Bank, Bank for International Settlements, as well as from private commercial banks. Conversely, the IMF’s refusal to provide credit support to a country denies its access to the loan capital market. In such conditions, countries are simply forced to turn to the IMF, even if they understand that the conditions put forward by the IMF will have disastrous consequences for the national economy.

In Fig. 6.8 also shows that at the beginning of its activities the IMF played a rather modest role as a lender. However, since the 1970s. there was a significant expansion of its lending activities.

Terms of loans

The provision of loans by the fund to member states is subject to their fulfillment of certain political and economic conditions. This procedure is called “conditionality” of loans. Officially, the IMF justifies this practice by the need to have confidence that borrowing countries will be able to repay their debts, ensuring an uninterrupted circulation of the Fund's resources. In fact, a mechanism for external management of borrower states has been built.

Since the IMF is dominated by monetarist, and more broadly, neoliberal theoretical views, its “practical” stabilization programs usually include reductions in government spending, including for social purposes, the elimination or reduction of government subsidies for food, consumer goods and services (which leads to higher prices on these goods), an increase in taxes on income individuals(with a simultaneous reduction in business taxes), growth inhibition or “freezing” wages, increasing discount rates, limiting the volume of investment lending, liberalizing foreign economic relations, devaluation of the national currency, followed by an increase in the price of imported goods, etc.

The concept of economic policy, which now forms the content of the conditions for obtaining IMF loans, was formed in the 1980s. in the circles of leading economists and business circles in the United States, as well as other Western countries, and is known as the “Washington Consensus”.

It involves such structural changes in economic systems, such as the privatization of enterprises, the introduction of market pricing, the liberalization of foreign economic activity. The IMF sees the main (if not the only) reason for the imbalance of the economy and the imbalance in international payments of borrowing countries in the excess aggregate effective demand in the country, caused primarily by the state budget deficit and excessive expansion of the money supply.

The implementation of IMF programs most often leads to a curtailment of investments, a slowdown in economic growth, and an aggravation of social problems. This is due to a decrease in real wages and living standards, rising unemployment, redistribution of income in favor of the rich at the expense of less affluent groups of the population, and growing property differentiation.

As for the former socialist states, the obstacle to solving their macroeconomic problems, from the point of view of the IMF, is the defects of an institutional and structural nature, therefore, when providing a loan, the fund focuses its requirements on the implementation of long-term structural changes in their economic and political systems.

The IMF pursues a very ideological policy. In fact, it finances the restructuring and inclusion of national economies in global speculative capital flows, i.e. their “linkage” to the global financial metropolis.

With the expansion of lending operations in the 1980s. The IMF has taken a course towards tightening their conditionality. It was then that the use of structural conditions in IMF programs became widespread in the 1990s. it has intensified significantly.

It is not surprising that the IMF’s recommendations to recipient countries in most cases are directly opposite to the anti-crisis policies of developed countries (Table 6.1), which practice countercyclical measures - the fall in demand from households and businesses in them is compensated by increased government spending (benefits, subsidies, etc.) . p.) due to the expansion of the budget deficit and increase in public debt. At the height of the global financial and economic crisis in 2008, the IMF supported such a policy in the USA, EU and China, but prescribed a different “medicine” for its “patients”. “31 out of 41 IMF assistance agreements provide for pro-cyclical, i.e., tighter monetary or fiscal policy,” notes a report from the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research.



These double standards have always existed and have many times led to major crises in developing countries. The application of IMF recommendations is focused on the formation of a unipolar model of development of the world community.

The role of the IMF in regulating international monetary, credit and financial relations

The IMF periodically makes changes to the world monetary system. Firstly, the IMF acted as a conductor of the policy adopted by the West at the initiative of the United States to demonetize gold and weaken its role in the global monetary system. Initially, the IMF's Articles of Agreement gave gold an important place in its liquid resources. The first step toward eliminating gold from the postwar international monetary mechanism was the United States' August 1971 cessation of gold sales for foreign government dollars. In 1978, the IMF's charter was amended to prohibit member countries from using gold as a means of expressing the value of their currencies; At the same time, the official price of gold in dollars and the gold content of the SDR unit were abolished.

The International Monetary Fund has played a leading role in the process of expanding the influence of transnational corporations and banks in countries with transition and developing economies. Providing these countries in the 1990s. IMF borrowing significantly contributed to the activation of the activities of transnational corporations and banks in these countries.

Due to the process of globalization financial markets The executive board in 1997 initiated the development of new amendments to the IMF's Articles of Agreement in order to make the liberalization of capital transactions a special goal of the IMF, to include them within its sphere of competence, that is, to extend to them the requirement for the abolition of exchange restrictions. The IMF Interim Committee adopted a special statement on capital liberalization at its session in Hong Kong on September 21, 1997, calling on the Executive Board to expedite work on amendments in order to “add a new chapter to the Bretton Woods Agreement.” However, the development of the global currency and financial crises in 1997–1998. slowed down this process. Some countries have been forced to introduce capital controls. Nevertheless, the IMF remains committed to lifting restrictions on international capital movements.

In the context of analyzing the causes of the global financial crisis of 2008, it is also important to note that the International Monetary Fund relatively recently (since 1999) came to the conclusion that it was necessary to extend its area of ​​responsibility to the functioning of global financial markets and financial systems.

The emergence of the IMF's intention to regulate international financial relations caused changes in its organizational structure. First, in September 1999, the International Monetary and Financial Committee was formed, which became a permanent body for strategic planning of the IMF on issues related to the functioning of the global monetary and financial system.

In 1999, the IMF and the World Bank adopted a joint Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), which should provide member countries with tools for assessing the health of their financial systems.

In 2001, a department for international markets capital. In June 2006, a joint Monetary Systems and Capital Markets Department (MSCMD) was established. Less than 10 years have passed since the inclusion of the global financial sector in the competence of the IMF and since the beginning of its “regulation”, when the largest global financial crisis in history broke out.

The IMF and the global financial and economic crisis of 2008

It is impossible not to note one fundamental point. In 2007, this largest world financial institution was in deep crisis. At that time, practically no one took or expressed a desire to take loans from the IMF. In addition, even those countries that received loans earlier tried to get rid of this financial burden as soon as possible. As a result, the size of conventional loans outstanding fell to a record level for the 21st century. marks - less than 10 billion SDR (Fig. 6.9).

The world community, with the exception of the beneficiaries of the IMF's activities represented by the United States and other economically developed countries, actually abandoned the IMF mechanism. And then something happened. Namely, the global financial and economic crisis broke out. The number of agreements on new loans, which tended to zero before the crisis, increased at a pace unprecedented in the history of the fund’s activities (Figure 6.10).

The crisis that began in 2008 literally saved the IMF from collapse. Is this a coincidence? One way or another, the global financial and economic crisis of 2008 was extremely beneficial to the International Monetary Fund, and therefore to those countries in whose interests it functions.

After the global crisis of 2008, it became obvious that the IMF needed reform. By the beginning of 2010, the total losses of the global financial system exceeded $4 trillion (about 12% of global gross product), two-thirds of which were generated in bad assets of American banks.

In what direction did the reform go? First of all, the IMF tripled its resources. After the G20 London summit in April 2009, the IMF received colossal additional reserves for lending - more than $500 billion, in addition to its existing $250 billion, although it uses less than $100 billion for assistance programs. Since the crisis, it has become clear that the IMF wants to take on even more authority over the global economy and finances.

The trend is to gradually transform the IMF into a macroeconomic policy watchdog in almost all countries of the world. It is obvious that in the conditions of such “reform” new world crises are inevitable.

This chapter of the monograph uses material from the dissertation of M.V. Deeva.

IMF- an intergovernmental monetary and credit organization to promote international monetary cooperation on the basis of consultations with its members and the provision of loans to them.

It was created by decision of the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 with the participation of delegates from 44 countries. The IMF began functioning in May 1946.

The International Monetary Fund collects and processes statistical data on international payments, foreign exchange resources, the amount of foreign exchange reserves, etc. The IMF Charter obliges countries, when receiving loans, to provide information about the state of the country's economy, gold and foreign exchange reserves, etc. In addition, the country that took out the loan must follow the IMF's recommendations to improve its economy.

The main task of the IMF is to maintain global stability. In addition, the IMF's responsibility is to inform all IMF members about changes in the financial and other member countries.

More than 180 countries of the world are members of the IMF. When joining the IMF, each country pays a certain amount of money as a membership fee, which is called a quota.

Entering a quota serves for:
  • education for lending to participating countries;
  • determining the amount that a country can receive in case of financial difficulties;
  • determining the number of votes that a participating country receives.

Quotas are reviewed periodically. The United States has the highest quota and, accordingly, the number of votes (it is just over 17%).

Procedure for granting loans

The IMF provides loans only to stabilize the economy and bring it out of the crisis, but not for economic development.

The procedure for granting a loan is as follows: provided for a period of 3 to 5 years at a rate slightly lower than the market one. The loan is transferred in parts, in tranches. The interval between tranches can be from one to three years. This procedure is designed to control the use of credit. If a country does not fulfill its obligations to the IMF, then the transfer of the next tranche is postponed.

Before providing a loan, the IMF carries out a system of consultations. Several representatives of the fund travel to the country that has applied for a loan, collect statistical information on various economic indicators (price levels, employment levels, tax revenues, etc.) and prepare a Report on the results of the study. The Report is then discussed at a meeting of the IMF Executive Board, which develops recommendations and proposals to improve the economic situation of the country.

Objectives of the International Monetary Fund:
  • Promote development international cooperation in the monetary and financial sphere within a permanent institution providing a mechanism for consultation and collaboration over international monetary and financial problems.
  • To promote the process of expansion and balanced growth of international trade and thereby achieve and maintain high levels of employment and real incomes, as well as the development of productive resources of all Member States.
  • Promote currency stability, maintain an orderly exchange rate regime among Member States and avoid using currency devaluations to gain competitive advantage.
  • Assist in the establishment of a multilateral current account settlement system between member countries, as well as eliminating currency restrictions hampering growth.
  • By temporarily making the general resources of the Fund available to member states, subject to adequate guarantees, create a state of confidence among them, thereby ensuring the ability to correct imbalances in their balance of payments without resorting to measures that could harm welfare at the national or international level.

International Monetary Fund

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International Monetary Fund (IMF)
International Monetary Fund (IMF)

IMF member states
Membership:

188 states
Headquarters:
Organization type:
Managers
Managing Director
Base
Creation of the IMF charter
Official date of creation of the IMF
Start of activity
www.imf.org

International Monetary Fund, IMF(English) International Monetary Fund, IMF listen)) is a specialized agency of the United Nations, headquartered in Washington, USA.

Basic lending mechanisms

1. Reserve share. The first portion of foreign currency that a member country can purchase from the IMF within 25% of the quota was called “golden” before the Jamaica Agreement, and since 1978 - the reserve share (Reserve Tranche). The reserve share is defined as the excess of the quota of a member country over the amount in the account of the National Currency Fund of that country. If the IMF uses part of a member country's national currency to provide credit to other countries, that country's reserve share increases accordingly. The outstanding amount of loans provided by a member country to the Fund under the loan agreements of the NHS and NHS constitutes its credit position. The reserve share and the lending position together constitute the “reserve position” of an IMF member country.

2. Credit shares. Foreign currency funds that can be purchased by a member country in excess of the reserve share (if fully used, the IMF's holdings in the country's currency reach 100% of the quota) are divided into four credit shares, or tranches (Credit Tranches), each constituting 25% of the quota . Member countries' access to IMF credit resources within the framework of credit shares is limited: the amount of a country's currency in the IMF's assets cannot exceed 200% of its quota (including 75% of the quota contributed by subscription). Thus, the maximum amount of credit that a country can receive from the Fund as a result of using reserve and credit shares is 125% of its quota. However, the charter gives the IMF the right to suspend this restriction. On this basis, the Fund's resources are in many cases used in amounts exceeding the limit fixed in the charter. Therefore, the concept of “Upper Credit Tranches” began to mean not only 75% of the quota, as in the early period of the IMF, but amounts exceeding the first credit share.

3. Stand-by loan arrangements Stand-by Arrangements) (since 1952) provide the member country with a guarantee that, up to a certain amount and during the term of the agreement, subject to compliance with specified conditions, the country can freely receive foreign currency from the IMF in exchange for national currency. This practice of providing loans is the opening of a line of credit. While the use of the first credit share can be carried out in the form of an outright purchase of foreign currency after the Fund approves its request, then the allocation of funds for the account of the upper credit shares is usually carried out through arrangements with member countries for reserve credits. From the 50s to the mid-70s, stand-by loan agreements had a term of up to a year, since 1977 - up to 18 months and even up to 3 years due to increasing balance of payments deficits.

4. Extended lending mechanism(English) Extended Fund Facility) (since 1974) supplemented the reserve and credit shares. It is designed to provide loans for longer periods and in large sizes in relation to quotas than within the framework of regular credit shares. The basis for a country's request to the IMF for a loan under expanded lending is a serious imbalance in the balance of payments caused by adverse structural changes in production, trade or prices. Extended loans are usually provided for three years, if necessary - up to four years, in certain portions (tranches) at specified intervals - once every six months, quarterly or (in some cases) monthly. The main purpose of stand-by loans and extended loans is to assist IMF member countries in implementing macroeconomic stabilization programs or structural reforms. The Fund requires the borrowing country to fulfill certain conditions, and the degree of their severity increases as they move from one loan share to another. Certain conditions must be met before receiving a loan. The obligations of the borrowing country, providing for its implementation of relevant financial and economic activities, are recorded in the “Letter of intent” or Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies sent to the IMF. The progress in fulfilling obligations by the country receiving the loan is monitored by periodically assessing the special performance criteria provided for in the agreement. These criteria can be either quantitative, relating to certain macroeconomic indicators, or structural, reflecting institutional changes. If the IMF considers that a country is using a loan in conflict with the goals of the Fund and is not fulfilling its obligations, it may limit its lending and refuse to provide the next tranche. Thus, this mechanism allows the IMF to exert economic pressure on borrowing countries.

The IMF provides loans with a number of requirements - freedom of movement of capital, privatization (including natural monopolies - railway transport and utilities), minimizing or even eliminating government spending on social programs- for education, healthcare, cheaper housing, public transport, etc.; refusal of protection environment; wage cuts, restrictions on workers' rights; increasing tax pressure on the poor, etc.

According to Michel Chosudovsky,

IMF-sponsored programs have since consistently continued to destroy the industrial sector and gradually dismantle the Yugoslav welfare state. Restructuring agreements increased external debt and provided a mandate for the devaluation of the Yugoslav currency, which greatly affected the standard of living of the Yugoslavs. This initial round of restructuring laid the foundations. Throughout the 1980s, the IMF periodically prescribed further doses of its bitter "economic therapy" as the Yugoslav economy slowly slipped into a coma. Industrial production reached a 10 percent drop by 1990 - with all the predictable social consequences.

Most of the loans issued by the IMF to Yugoslavia in the 80s went to service this debt and solve problems caused by the implementation of IMF prescriptions. The Foundation forced Yugoslavia to stop the economic equalization of the regions, which led to the growth of separatism and further civil war, which claimed the lives of 600 thousand people.

In the 1980s, the Mexican economy collapsed due to a sharp drop in oil prices. The IMF began to act: loans were issued in exchange for large-scale privatization, reduction of government spending, etc. Up to 57% of government spending was spent on paying off external debt. As a result, about $45 billion left the country. Unemployment reached 40% of the economically active population. The country was forced to join NAFTA and provide enormous benefits to American corporations. Mexican workers' incomes immediately fell.

As a result of reforms, Mexico - the country where corn was first domesticated - began to import it. The support system for Mexican farmers was completely destroyed. After the country joined NAFTA in 1994, liberalization moved even faster, and protective tariffs began to be eliminated. The United States did not deprive its farmers of support and actively supplied corn to Mexico.

The proposal to take on and then pay off external debt in foreign currency leads to an economy focused exclusively on exports, regardless of any food security measures (as was the case in many African countries, the Philippines, etc.).

see also

  • IMF member states

Notes

Literature

  • Cornelius Luke Trading in the Global Currency Markets = Trading in the Global Currency Markets. - M.: Alpina Publisher, 2005. - 716 p. - ISBN 5-9614-0206-1

Links

  • The structure of the IMF's governing bodies and the voices of member countries (see table on page 15)
  • Chinese should become IMF President People's Daily 05/19/2011
  • Egorov A.V. “International financial infrastructure”, M.: Linor, 2009. ISBN 978-5-900889-28-3
  • Alexander Tarasov “Argentina is another victim of the IMF”
  • Could the IMF be dissolved? Yuri Sigov. "Business Week", 2007
  • IMF loan: pleasure for the rich and violence for the poor. Andrey Ganzha. "Telegraph", 2008 - link copy of article does not work
  • International Monetary Fund (IMF) “First Moscow Currency Advisors”, 2009
Trade
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