Management

The IMF is led by a Managing Director, who is head of the staff and Chairman of the Executive Board. He is assisted by a First Deputy Managing Director and two other Deputy Managing Directors. The Management team oversees the work of the staff, and maintain high-level contacts with member governments, the media, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, and other institutions.
Managing Director: Duties and selection
According to the IMF's Articles of Agreement, the Managing Director "shall be chief of the operating staff of the Fund and shall conduct, under the direction of the Executive Board, the ordinary business of the Fund. Subject to the general control of the Executive Board, he shall be responsible for the organization, appointment, and dismissal of the staff of the Fund."
The IMF's Executive Board is responsible for selecting the Managing Director. Any Executive Director may submit a nomination for the position, consistent with past practice. When more than one candidate is nominated, as has been the case in recent years, the Executive Board aims to reach a decision by consensus.

Income model reform

If the IMF believes that its resources might fall short of members' needs—for example, in the event of a major financial crisis—it can supplement its own resources by borrowing. It has had a range of bilateral borrowing arrangements in the 1970s and 1980s. Currently it has two standing multilateral borrowing arrangements and one bilateral borrowing agreement.
Through the New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) and the General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB), a number of member countries and institutions stand ready to lend additional funds to the IMF. The maximum amount of resources available to the IMF under the NAB and GAB is SDR 34 billion. Under a separate bilateral agreement with Japan, the IMF can borrow up to US$100 billion (about SDR 68
The business model that the IMF has followed since it was established relies primarily on income from its lending operations to finance its work. Lending generates income because the IMF charges member countries that draw on its financial resources a higher interest rate than it pays to its member country creditors (this lending margin will be one percentage point during 2008-09). However, this model had become unsustainable in recent years because of a sharp drop-off in lending activity.
A Committee of Eminent Persons, set up in January 2007 and chaired by Andrew Crockett (former general manager of the Bank of International Settlements), recommended that the IMF adopt a package of income-generating measures, including strictly limited sales of gold (amounting to about one-eighth of the Fund's total gold holdings), to establish an endowment.
In May 2008, the IMF's Board of Governors endorsed a new package of measures to end the IMF's over-reliance on lending income. The package included most of the measures that had been proposed by the Crockett Committee.

Cooperation and reconstruction (1944–71)

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, countries attempted to shore up their failing economies by 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. These attempts proved to be self-defeating. World trade declined sharply (see chart below), and employment and living standards plummeted in many countries.

This breakdown in international monetary cooperation led the IMF's founders to plan an institution charged with overseeing the international monetary system—the system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries and their citizens to buy goods and services from each other. The new global entity would ensure exchange rate stability and encourage its member countries to eliminate exchange restrictions that hindered trade.

The Bretton Woods agreement

The IMF was conceived in July 1944, when representatives of 45 countries meeting in the town of Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in the northeastern United States, agreed on a framework for international economic cooperation, to be established after the Second World War. They believed that such a framework was necessary to avoid a repetition of the disastrous economic policies that had contributed to the Great Depression.

The IMF came into formal existence in December 1945, when its first 29 member countries signed its Articles of Agreement. It began operations on March 1, 1947. Later that year, France became the first country to borrow from the IMF.

The IMF's membership began to expand in the late 1950s and during the 1960s as many African countries became independent and applied for membership. But the Cold War limited the Fund's membership, with most countries in the Soviet sphere of influence not joining.

Par value system

The countries that joined the IMF between 1945 and 1971 agreed to keep their exchange rates (the value of their currencies in terms of the U.S. dollar and, in the case of the United States, the value of the dollar in terms of gold) pegged at rates that could be adjusted only to correct a "fundamental disequilibrium" in the balance of payments, and only with the IMF's agreement. This par value system—also known as the Bretton Woods system—prevailed until 1971, when the U.S. government suspended the convertibility of the dollar (and dollar reserves held by other governments) into gold.

Technical Assistance

The IMF shares its expertise with member countries by providing technical assistance and training in a wide range of areas, such as central banking, monetary and exchange rate policy, tax policy and administration, and official statistics. The objective is to help improve the design and implementation of members' economic policies, including by strengthening skills in institutions such as finance ministries, central banks, and statistical agencies. The IMF has also given advice to countries that have had to reestablish government institutions following severe civil unrest or war.

In 2008, the IMF embarked on an ambitious reform effort to enhance the impact of its technical assistance. The reforms emphasize better prioritization, enhanced performance measurement, more transparent costing and stronger partnerships with donors.

Beneficiaries of technical assistance

Technical assistance is one of the IMF's core activities. It is concentrated in critical areas of macroeconomic policy where the Fund has the greatest comparative advantage. Thanks to its near-universal membership, the IMF's technical assistance program is informed by experience and knowledge gained across diverse regions and countries at different levels of development.

About 80 percent of the IMF's technical assistance goes to low- and lower-middle-income countries, in particular in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Post-conflict countries are major beneficiaries. The IMF is also providing technical assistance aimed at strengthening the architecture of the international financial system, building capacity to design and implement poverty-reducing and growth programs, and helping heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) in debt reduction and management.

Types of technical assistance

The IMF's technical assistance takes different forms, according to needs, ranging from long-term hands-on capacity building to short-notice policy support in a financial crisis. Technical assistance is delivered in a variety of ways. IMF staff may visit member countries to advise government and central bank officials on specific issues, or the IMF may provide resident specialists on a short- or a long-term basis. Technical assistance is integrated with country reform agendas as well as the IMF's surveillance and lending operations.

The IMF is providing an increasing part of its technical assistance through regional centers located in Gabon, Mali, and Tanzania for Africa; in Barbados for the Caribbean; in Lebanon for the Middle East; and in Fiji for the Pacific Islands. As part of its reform program, the IMF is planning to open four more regional technical assistance centers in Africa, Latin America, and central Asia. The IMF also offers training courses for government and central bank officials of member countries at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at regional training centers in Austria, Brazil, China, India, Singapore, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Partnership with donors

Contributions from bilateral and multilateral donors are playing an increasingly important role in enabling the IMF to meet country needs in this area, now financing about two thirds of the IMF's field delivery of technical assistance. Strong partnerships between recipient countries and donors enable IMF technical assistance to be developed on the basis of a more inclusive dialogue and within the context of a coherent development framework. The benefits of donor contributions thus go beyond the financial aspect.

The IMF is currently seeking to leverage the comparative advantages of its technical assistance to expand donor financing to meet the needs of recipient countries. As part of this effort, the Fund is strengthening its partnerships with donors by engaging them on a broader, longer-term and more strategic basis.

The idea is to pool donor resources in multi-donor trust funds that would supplement the IMF's own resources for technical assistance while leveraging the Fund's expertise and experience. Expansion of the multi-donor trust fund model is envisaged on a regional and topical basis, offering donors different entry points according to their priorities. The IMF is planning to establish a menu of seven topical trust funds over the next two years, covering anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism; fragile states; public financial management; management of natural resource wealth, public debt sustainability and management, statistics and data provision; and financial sector stability and development.

Organization & Finances

The IMF promotes international monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability, facilitates the balanced growth of international trade, and provides resources to help members in balance of payments difficulties or to assist with poverty reduction.
Through its economic surveillance, the IMF keeps track of the economic health of its member countries, alerting them to risks on the horizon and providing policy advice. It also lends to countries in difficulty, and provides technical assistance and training to help countries improve economic management. This work is backed by IMF research and statistics.

The IMF has 186 member countries. It is a specialized agency of the United Nations but has its own charter, governing structure, and finances. Its members are represented through a quota system broadly based on their relative size in the global economy.
The IMF works with other international organizations to promote growth and poverty reduction. It also interacts with think tanks, civil society, and the media on a daily basis.
The IMF has a Managing Director, who is head of the staff and Chairman of the Executive Board. He is assisted by a First Deputy Managing Director and two other Deputy Managing Directors.
The IMF's employees come from all over the world; they are responsible to the IMF and not to the authorities of the countries of which they are citizens. The IMF staff is organized mainly into area; functional; and information, liaison, and support responsibilities.
The IMF also has some of the largest official holders of gold in the world.

Public opinion

Public opinion is New Start’s forum for discussion. Blog entries are posted by site members from all over the sector, and discussion of the topics presented is encouraged. Becoming a member is completely free and gives you the opportunity to help contribute to the most exciting portal for regeneration, economic development and sustainable communities on the web. Site membership is now open, and you can be registered and begin submitting entries in less than 5 minutes! Just use the links at the top of the page.

No, of course I'm not suggesting for a moment that it's acceptable, sensible or desirable that bank executives earn millions of pounds in bonuses whilst sitting on piles of taxpayers' money.

But the almost exclusive focus of the media (and our MPs) on bankers' bonuses and remuneration packages is diverting …

With all that's happened over the last 18 months or so in the financial sector and the economy it's been made quite plain that an unhealthy desire for more is ultimately what has led us to the place we currently find ourselves.

We can sit and point the finger and …

The National Indicator Set (NIS) is designed to offer government (at all levels) and its agents and partners a common framework for assessing conditions, and change in those conditions, across England.

Over recent months in the Commission for Rural Communities we have undertaken a comprehensive assessment of the potential to … Despite the lack of ambition in the Conservative's banking reform policy white paper, the Shadow Chancellor is associated with some more radical proposals. George Osborne is a member of the Advisory Council of the think-tank Demos, home of the Progressive Conservatism project -Great blog Toby. I have to say I share not only your thoughts on the current state of play but reluctantly your view on what actual change would result from these proposals.
The fact that the tax payer has invested into the banking sector and is yet to see any return on this investment (in fact quite the opposite) is a sign for me that sadly business as usual will be the order of the day.
I might go as far as to say that there are probably far too many conflicts of interest in the mix for any government to arrive at a strategy which would prevent banks from bringing us into another recession in the same way in the future. Any proposals for change would have to be so radical that they would never get tabled.

Something to say

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News digest

Club plans to extend working lives | Shops get a new lease of life | Making sense of LAAs | Public get say in Salford | Liverpool park perks up | Five things you may have missed.

Analysis

School leavers will be victims of our approach to employment | Why we need permanent solutions to economic shocks | Neil McInroy calls for a new wave of local economic activism | How sport can match the thrill of being in a gang.

Investigation

Mutual Housing: Britain’s wealth gap is growing – but community-owned and managed housing could offer a more equitable future | David Orr calls for an expansion of mutual housing in the UK | Community housing can help meet the challenge of Britain’s ageing population, argues Glyn Thomas | Mapping the sector.

Also in this issue

Head to head: Peter Lewis of LVSC and Allison Ogden-Newton of Social Enterprise London consider the perils of pairing up with private companies | International: Sydney and Montreal are still grappling with their Olympic legacy. What can London learn from them? | Professional development: Regeneration practitioners head off to university to top up their skills | The big picture: Why they do like to be beside the seaside in Nottingham | Significant others: Frances Crook from the Howard League | Neglected opportunities: It’s sink or swim time for Victorian baths.

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Our readers work in local authorities, regional development agencies, registered social landlords, regeneration partnerships, government departments, universities, social enterprises, consultancies, environmental regeneration organisations, charities, the voluntary, community and private sector, think tanks, and umbrella organisations. They work across the spectrum of regeneration and sustainable communities – economic development, social inclusion, tackling worklessness, crime reduction.

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New Start’s values are at the heart of everything we do. Our mission is to help our readers make a difference in the communities they regenerate. And every year staff nominate three charities to support, all of which are involved in regeneration.