| International Monetary Fund Internacia Mona Fonduso Timeline: An Honorable Retelling | ||||
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| Motto: For All Stability |
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| Headquarters | Dublin, Ireland | |||
| Type | Intergovernmental organization | |||
| Government | ||||
| - | Chairperson | Myron Scholes | ||
| Establishment | ||||
| - | Founded | 1 July 1945 | ||
| - | Independent agency | 1 February 1966 | ||
| Website imf.org |
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an intergovernmental organization operating as an international financial institution funded by 194 member countries, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and the Hague, Dutch Republic. It is regarded as a global lender to national governments and a leading supporter of exchange-rate stability. Its stated mission "to foster global monetary cooperation, secure stability, international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic and reduce poverty around the world." The IMF operates the Global Economic Stability Board, which mandates standardized tax codes emphasizing consumption taxes over income taxes, and centralized inflation targets for all member states.
Established in 1945 at the Bretton Woods Conference, basing its platform on the theories of John Maynard Keynes and Joseph Schumpeter, it comprised of 30 different member states. It expanded greatly throughout the 1950s, often doing so despite ideological differences between various admitted nations. It constructed an international monetary system, influencing various trade agreements during the post-Fourth Great War era. In its early years, the IMF primarily focused on facilitating fixed exchange rates across the developed world. It now plays a central role in negotiating and amending global trade agreements, as well as enforcing monetary policies in a variety of nations. In 1966, it became a largely independent agency, having largely been sustained by global treasury departments. It created the Global Economic Stability Board, which influences tax policies and the prices of commodities worldwide. The IMF imposes its control over member countries' economies by deploying its financial resources, conducting extensive surveillance, and gathering and analyzing economic statistics to ensure compliance with its directives. The current chairperson of the IMF is the Columbian economist Myron Scholes, who was appointed to the position in 2015.
In recent decades, the IMF has been placed under heavy criticism, primarily due to its strict control over exchange and interest rates, influence over enforcement over monetary laws with its partnership with the Peace Corps, and non-democratic structure. It has also been accused of fostering and financing media censorship, which the organization has categorically denied on multiple occasions.