IMF headquarters are in Washington D.C..
Board of Governors
The Fund is governed by a Board of Governors, composed of one representative from each member country, usually a finance minister or central bank governor. The Governors meet once a year at the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings.
International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) and Development Committee
The IMFC, a committee of the Board of Governors,meets twice a year to discuss key policy issues related to the international monetary system.
The Development Committee, a joint committee of the World Bank and IMF, advises the Board of Governors on key issues of concern to developing nations and policies.
Board of Executive Directors
The Executive Board carries out most of the day-to-day work of the institution. The Board usually meets three times a week. There are 24 Directors on the Board; 8 are appointed by the Fund's largest shareholders (US, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia). The other 16 Executive Directors represent constituencies of member countries. Executive Directors serve two-year terms.
Managing Director
The Managing Director is selected by the Executive Board and is, by tradition, a European. The Director serves a five-year term, and acts as Board chair and chief of staff.
The current Managing Director is Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Staff
The Fund currently has 2,693 staff from 141 countries. Most work occurs at IMF headquarters in Washington, DC. The Fund also has over 85 resident representatives in member countries.IMF employees'responsibility is to the IMF, not the national authorities of their country of citizenship.
Membership
Seventy-five countries owe the Fund around $34 billion. Membership jumped sharply in the 1960s, after many colonial territories gained independence, and again in the 1990s with the fall of the Soviet Union.
IMF member countries are assigned quotas based on their economic size in the world economy. The quota determines the amount members contribute, can potentially borrow, and the number of votes allocated (even though the institution claims many decisions are based on consensus). The larger the economy the greater the quota, and therefore the greater number of votes, and vice versa. Quotas are assigned in the form of "Special Drawing Rights" (SDRs).
Not surprisingly, the Unites States has the largest quota, providing its representative with almost 17% of the total votes; this is enough to veto certain decisions, as a majority vote of 85 per cent is often required. The 25 European Union member states have 31.4 per cent of votes, while the combined voting power of all 47 AFrican Nations is about 6%.
The IMF program cycle
The IMF has regular, systematic engagement with government representatives at many levels. Implementation of the IMF’s program cycle varies from one country to the next, depending on the situation and need of the country in question. The nature of the program cycle is highlighted by looking at the cases of Uruguay and Mozambique.
The IMF and the World Bank
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were created together at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. As two pillars of the global economic and financial system, they were designed to serve distinct but complementary roles. The IMF was tasked with maintaining stability of exchange rates in the global economy and promoting expanded trade through short-term loans for general budget support and economic policy advice to any of its member countries. The World Bank was tasked with helping to rebuild specific sectors of country economies and promote economic growth and development by providing long-term loans to governments of its poorer member countries for public works and other investments to boost economic activity.
The IMF is concerned with macroeconomic and financial sector issues, while the World Bank focuses on long-term poverty reduction and sustainable development. To be eligible for World Bank membership countries must first be a member of the IMF.
Today, the headquarters of the two institutions sit across the street from one another in Washington, DC, and although they don’t always communicate openly they often function in tandem to exert pressure on borrowing governments. Loans from the two institutions frequently contain cross-conditionality, meaning that the policy reforms or actions required of a government in order to access funds from one institution may be tied to requirements specified by the other institution. Beyond this direct influence on governments through the financing they provide, both institutions, the IMF in particular, play gate keeping functions, influencing a countries’ access to financing from other public and private sources. The World Bank and many other donors will lend only to governments that have no outstanding IMF debts and comply with IMF policy recommendations. This wields the IMF tremendous power over whether countries have access to external financing at all. At the same time, the World Bank’s analysis and lending operations influence the amount and type of funds countries get from other donors.