International Monetary Fund goals and structure. International Monetary Fund. Its role in the world economy. The role of the Fund in the global economy

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), (International Monetary Fund, IMF) is an intergovernmental organization designed to regulate monetary and credit relations between states and provide financial assistance to member countries to eliminate currency difficulties caused by imbalances in the balance of payments. The IMF was established at the International Monetary and Financial Conference (July 1-22, 1944) in Bretton Woods (USA, New Hampshire). The Foundation began its practical activities on March 1, 1947.

The USSR also took part in the work of the Bretton Woods Conference. However, later, in connection with the "cold war" between East and West, he did not ratify the Agreement on the formation of the IMF. For the same reason, during the 50-60s. Poland, Czechoslovakia and Cuba left the IMF. As a result of deep socio-economic and political reforms in the early 90s. former socialist countries, as well as states that were previously part of the USSR, joined the IMF (with the exception of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Cuba).

There are currently 182 member states of the IMF (see Chart 4). Any country pursuing an independent foreign policy and ready to accept the rights and obligations stipulated by the IMF Charter can become a member of the organization.

The official objectives of the IMF are:

• promote the balanced growth of international trade;
• maintain the stability of exchange rates;
• contribute to the creation of a multilateral system of settlements for current transactions between members of the Fund and the elimination of foreign exchange restrictions that hinder the growth of international trade;
• provide member countries with credit resources that allow them to regulate the imbalance of temporary payments without using restrictive measures in the field of foreign trade and settlements;
• serve as a forum for consultation and cooperation in the field of international monetary issues.

Responsible for the smooth operation of the global monetary and payment system, the Fund pays special attention to the state of liquidity on a global scale, i.e. the level and composition of reserves held by Member States to cover trade and payment needs. One of the important functions of the Fund is also to provide additional liquidity to its members through the allocation of special drawing rights (SDRs). SDR (or SDR) is an international accounting currency unit used as a conditional scale for measuring international claims and obligations, establishing currency parity and exchange rate, as an international means of payment and reserve. The value of the SDR is determined on the basis of the average value of the five major currencies of the world (before January 1, 1981 - sixteen currencies). The determination of the share of each currency is made taking into account the country's share in international trade, but for the US dollar, its share in international settlements is taken into account. So far, 21.4 billion SDRs have been issued with a total value of about $29 billion, which is about 2% of all reserves.

The Fund has significant general resources to finance temporary imbalances in the balance of payments of its members. To use them, a member must provide the Fund with a strong justification for the need that has arisen, which may be related to the balance of payments, reserve position or changes in reserves. The IMF provides its resources on the basis of equality and non-discrimination, taking into account the social and domestic political goals of member countries. The Fund's policy enables them to use IMF financing at an early stage of balance of payments problems.

At the same time, the Fund's assistance contributes to overcoming imbalances in payments without the application of trade and payment restrictions. The Fund plays a catalytic role as changes in government policies in the implementation of IMF-supported programs help attract additional financial assistance from other sources. Finally, the Fund acts as a financial intermediary, ensuring the redistribution of funds from those countries where there is a surplus of them to countries where there is a deficit.

IMF Governance Structure

1. The highest governing body is the Board of Governors, in which each member country is represented by a Governor and his deputy. In most cases, the Fund's managers are finance ministers or central bankers or other persons of the same official position. The Board of Governors elects a chairman from among its members. The competence of the council includes the resolution of the most important, fundamental issues of the IMF's activities, such as the admission and exclusion of members of the Fund, the determination and revision of quotas, the distribution of net income, and the selection of executive directors. The Governors meet once a year to discuss the activities of the Fund, but they may vote at any time by mail.

The IMF is organized as a joint-stock company, and therefore the ability of each participant to influence its activities is determined by the share in the capital. In accordance with this, the IMF operates the principle of the so-called "weighted" number of votes: each member state has 250 "basic" votes (regardless of the contribution to the Fund's capital) and an additional one vote for every 100,000 SDR units of its share in this capital. In addition, when voting on certain issues, the creditor countries receive an additional one vote for every $400,000 of loans provided by them on the voting day, due to a corresponding reduction in the number of votes of the debtor countries. This arrangement leaves the decisive word in the management of the affairs of the IMF to the countries that have invested the largest funds in it.

Decisions in the Board of Governors of the IMF are generally taken by a simple majority (at least half) of the votes, and on the most important issues (for example, amending the Charter, establishing and revising the size of the shares of member countries in the capital, a number of issues of the functioning of the SDR mechanism, policies in the field of exchange rates, etc.) by "special (qualified) majority", currently providing for two categories: 70% and 85% of the total votes of member countries.

The current Charter of the IMF provides that the Board of Governors may decide to establish a new permanent governing body - the Council at the ministerial level of member countries to oversee the regulation and adaptation of the world monetary system. But it has not yet been established, and its role is played by the 22-member Interim Committee of the Board of Governors on the World Monetary System, established in 1974. However, unlike the proposed Council, the Interim Committee does not have the power to make policy decisions.

2. The Board of Governors delegates many of its powers to the Executive Board, i.e. The Directorate, which is responsible for the conduct of the Foundation's business and operates from its Washington headquarters.

3. The IMF Executive Board appoints a Managing Director who heads the Fund's administrative apparatus and is in charge of day-to-day affairs. Traditionally, the managing director must be European or (at least) non-American. Since 2000, the Managing Director of the IMF is Horst Keller (Germany).

4. The IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics, which includes representatives from industrialized and developing countries. It develops recommendations for a wider use of statistical data in the compilation of balance of payments, coordinates the conduct of a basic statistical survey of portfolio investment, and carries out studies on the registration of flows associated with derivative funds.

Capital. The capital of the IMF is made up of subscription contributions from member countries. Each country has a quota expressed in SDRs. A member's quota is the most important element of its financial and organizational relationship with the Fund. First, the quota determines the number of votes in the Fund. Secondly, the size of the quota is based on the extent of access of the IMF member to the financial resources of the organization in accordance with the established limits. Third, the quota determines the share of the IMF member in the allocation of SDRs. The Charter does not provide methods for determining IMF membership quotas. At the same time, from the very beginning, the size of quotas was linked, although not on a rigid basis, with such economic factors as national income and the volume of foreign trade and payments. The Ninth General Review of Quotas used a set of five formulas agreed upon during the Eighth General Review to produce "estimated quotas" that serve as a general measure of the relative position of IMF members in the global economy. These formulas use economic data on a government's gross domestic product (GDP), current operations, fluctuations in current receipts, and government reserves.

The United States, as the country with the highest economic performance, made the largest contribution to the IMF, accounting for about 18% of the total quotas (about $35 billion); Palau, which joined the IMF in December 1997, has the smallest quota and contributed about $3.8 million.

Prior to 1978, 25% of the quota was paid in gold, currently in reserve assets (SDRs or freely usable currencies); 75% of the subscription amount - in national currency, usually provided to the Fund in the form of promissory notes.

The IMF Charter provides that in addition to its own capital, which is the main source of financing its activities, the Fund has the ability to use borrowed funds in any currency and from any source, i.e. borrow them both from official bodies and in the private market for loan capital. To date, the IMF has received loans from the treasuries and central banks of member countries, as well as from Switzerland, which was not a member until May 1992, and from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). As for the private money market, he has not yet resorted to its services.

Lending activities of the IMF. Financial operations of the IMF are carried out only with the official bodies of member countries - treasuries, central banks, foreign exchange stabilization funds. The Fund's resources can be made available to its members through a variety of approaches and mechanisms, differing mainly in terms of the types of balance of payments deficit financing problems, as well as the level of conditionality put forward by the IMF. Moreover, these conditions are a composite criterion that includes three separate elements: the state of the balance of payments, the balance of international reserves and the dynamics of the reserve position of countries. These three elements, which determine the need for balance of payments financing, are considered independent, and each of them can serve as the basis for submitting a request for funding to the Fund.

A country in need of a foreign currency purchases a freely usable currency or SDR in exchange for an equivalent amount of its national currency, which is credited to the IMF account at the country's central bank.

The IMF charges borrowing countries a one-time fee of 0.5% of the transaction amount and a certain fee, or interest rate, for the loans it provides, which is based on market rates.

After the expiration of the specified period, the member country is obliged to perform the reverse operation - to redeem its national currency from the Fund, returning to it the borrowed funds. Usually this operation, which in practice means the repayment of the previously received loan, must be carried out within a period of 3 1/4 to 5 years from the date of purchase of the currency. In addition, the borrowing country must redeem its excess currency for the Fund ahead of schedule as its balance of payments improves and foreign exchange reserves increase. Loans are also considered repaid if the national currency of the debtor country held by the IMF is bought by another member state.

Member countries' access to IMF credit resources is limited by some nuances. According to the original Charter, they were as follows: firstly, the amount of currency received by a member country in the twelve months preceding its new application to the Fund, including the amount requested, should not exceed 25% of the country's quota; secondly, the total amount of the country's currency in the assets of the IMF could not exceed 200% of the value of its quota (including 75% of the quota contributed to the Fund by subscription). In the 1978 revised Charter, the first limitation was removed. This allowed member countries to use their IMF foreign exchange opportunities in a shorter period than the five years previously required. As for the second condition, in exceptional circumstances its operation may also be suspended.

Technical assistance. The International Monetary Fund also provides technical assistance to member countries. It is carried out through sending missions to the central banks, ministries of finance and statistical authorities of countries that have requested such assistance, sending experts to these authorities for 2-3 years, and conducting an examination of draft legislative documents. Technical assistance is expressed in the IMF's assistance to member countries in the field of monetary, foreign exchange policy and banking supervision, statistics, development of financial and economic legislation and training.

The Russian Federation has been a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 25 years. On June 1, 1992, Russia joined one of the largest financial organizations in the world.
During this time, Russia has gone from a borrower, which received about $22 billion from the IMF, to a creditor.

The history of relations between Russia and the IMF - in the material TASS.
What is the International Monetary Fund? When did it appear and who is included in it?
The official creation date of the IMF is December 27, 1945. On this day, the first 29 states signed the IMF Charter, the Fund's main document. The organization's website indicates the main goal of its existence: ensuring the stability of the international monetary system, that is, the system of exchange rates and international payments, which allows countries and their citizens to conduct transactions with each other.
Today, the IMF includes 189 states.How does the IMF work?
The Foundation performs many functions. For example, he is following over the state of the international monetary and financial system both globally and in each specific country. In addition, employees IMF advises countries that are part of the organization. Another function of the fund is lending to countries with significant problems in the economy.
Each member country of the IMF has its own quota, which affects the size of contributions, the number of "votes" in decision-making and access to funding. The current IMF quota formula consists of four components: gross domestic product, economic openness and volatility, and a country's international reserves.
Each member state transfers contributions to the fund in certain currency proportions - a quarter to choose from in one of the following currencies: US dollar, euro (until 2003 - mark and French franc), Japanese yen, Chinese yuan and pound sterling. The remaining three quarters are in national currency.
Since the IMF member countries have different currencies, since 1972, for general convenience, the fund's finances have been converted into an internal means of payment, it's called SDR("special drawing rights"). It is in the SDR that the IMF conducts all calculations and issues loans, and only by "clearing" - there are no coins, no SDR banknotes and never have been. The exchange rate is floating: as of June 1, 1 SDR was equal to $1.38, or 78.4 rubles.
However, at the time of Russia's accession to the IMF, a curious situation developed. In 1992, our country did not have the opportunity to contribute its share in foreign currency. The problem was solved in an original way - the country took an interest-free loan for one day from the United States, Germany, France and Japan in the currencies of these countries, made its contribution to the IMF and immediately asked for its "reserve share" (a loan in the amount of a quarter of the quota that the member country has the right to ask the fund at any time in foreign currency). Then she returned the funds.How big is the Russian quota in the modern IMF?
Russia's quota is 2.7% - 12,903 million SDRs ($17,677 million, or almost a trillion rubles).
Why was the Soviet Union not a member of the IMF?
Some experts believe that this is a miscalculation of the USSR leadership. For example, Alexei Mozhin, current dean of the Fund's Board of Directors (an IMF term that literally translates as "elder"), told TASS that the Soviet delegation participated in the Bretton Woods Conference, which developed the IMF Charter. Its participants turned to the leadership of the Soviet Union with a recommendation to join the IMF, but the then People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov wrote a refusal resolution. According to Mozhin, the reason was the peculiarities of the Soviet economy, other statistics and the reluctance of the authorities to give out certain economic data to foreign states, for example, the size of gold and foreign exchange reserves.
Dmitry Smyslov, chief researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, author of the book "The History of Russia's Relations with International Financial Institutions", gives another explanation: "The dogmatic ideological stereotypes that were inherent in the former political leadership of the USSR."Why did Russia start borrowing money from the fund?
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, multibillion-dollar debts remained, which were liquidated only this year. According to various sources, they ranged from 65 to 140 billion dollars. Initially, it was planned that 12 republics of the former Soviet Union (except for the Baltic countries) would give loans. However, at the end of 1992, Russian President (1991-1999) Boris Yeltsin signed an agreement on the "zero option", in which the Russian Federation agreed to pay the debts of all the republics of the USSR, and in return received the right to all the assets of the former Union.
The IMF and the United States (as the owner of the largest quota in the fund) welcomed this decision (according to one of the versions - because other republics simply refused to return loans and in 1992 only Russia gave the money). Moreover, according to Smyslov, the IMF almost set the signing of the "zero option" as a condition for joining the fund.
The fund made it possible to receive funds for long periods and at very low interest rates (in 1992 the rate was 6.6% per annum and since then it has been steadily decreasing). Thus, Russia "refinanced" its debts to the creditors of the USSR: their "interest rate" was significantly higher. The reverse side of the medal was the requirements that the IMF put forward to Russia. And how much did we get from the fund?
There are two numbers. The first of these is the size of approved loans, which is 25.8 billion SDR. However, in fact, Russia received only 15.6 billion SDRs. This significant difference is explained by the fact that loans are issued in installments and with certain conditions. If, according to the IMF, Russia did not fulfill them, further tranches simply did not come.
For example, according to the results of 1992, Russia had to reduce the budget deficit to 5% of GDP. But it turned out to be twice as high, and therefore the tranche was not sent. In 1993, the IMF was supposed to lend more than 1 billion SDRs, but its management was not satisfied with the results of the financial and macroeconomic stabilization being carried out in Russia. For this reason, and also because of changes in the composition of the government of the Russian Federation, the second half of the loan in 1993 was never granted. Finally, in 1998, Russia defaulted, and therefore more than $10 billion in financial assistance was not provided. In 1999-2000, the IMF was supposed to lend about $4.5 billion, but only transferred the first tranche. Lending stopped at the initiative of Russia- the price of oil rose, in 2000 the political situation in the country changed significantly and the need to get into debt disappeared. After that, Russia until 2005 repaid loans. Since that moment, our country has not borrowed funds from the IMF.
In any case, Russia was the IMF's largest borrower, and, for example, in 1998, the number of loans issued exceeded the quota by more than three times.

What was this money spent on?
There is no single answer. Some of them went to strengthen the ruble, some - to the Russian budget. A lot of money from the IMF loans went to pay off the external debt of the USSR to other creditors, including the London and Paris Clubs.The IMF helped only with money?
No. The Fund provided Russia and other post-Soviet countries complex of expert and consulting services. This was especially relevant immediately after the collapse of the USSR, since at that time Russia and other republics were not yet able to effectively manage a market economy. According to Alexei Mozhin, the fund played a decisive, key role in the creation of the treasury system in Russia. In addition, relations with the IMF helped Russia to receive other loans, including from commercial banks and organizations.What is Russia's relationship with the IMF now?
“Russia is participating in the financing of our efforts, whether in African countries, where we now have many programs, or in some European countries where we work. And the money will return to it, with interest,” the IMF Managing Director described the role of our country Christine Lagarde in an interview with TASS.
In turn, Russia periodically holds consultations with the IMF on all aspects of the economic situation in our country and economic development.
Sergey Kruglov

P.S. Bretton Woods. July 1944. It was here that the bankers of the Anglo-Saxon world finally rebuilt a very strange and counterintuitive financial system, the inevitable decline of which we are witnessing today. Why inevitable? Because the system invented by the bankers contrary to the laws of nature. In the world, nothing disappears into nowhere and nothing appears from nothing. The law of conservation of energy operates in nature. And the bankers decided to violate the fundamental foundations of being. Money out of thin air, wealth out of nothing, without labor is the fastest way to degradation and degeneration. This is exactly what we are seeing today.

Great Britain and the United States actively directed events in the direction they needed. After all, a new world could only be built ... on the bones of the old one. And for this, a world war was needed. As a result, the dollar was supposed to become the world's reserve currency. This task was solved by the Second World War and tens of millions of deaths. Only in this way did the Europeans agree to part with their sovereignty, an integral feature of which is the issuance of its own currency.

But the Anglo-Saxons were seriously going to launch a nuclear strike on Russia-USSR in the event of Stalin's disagreement to "surrender" their financial independence. In December 1945, Stalin had the courage not to ratify the Bretton Woods agreements. Since 1949, the arms race will begin.

The struggle is tied up because Stalin refused to surrender the state sovereignty of Russia. Yeltsin and Gorbachev will hand him over for a couple.

The main outcome of Bretton Woods was cloning the American financial system to the whole world, with the creation in each country of a branch of the Fed, subordinate to the world behind the scenes, and not to the government of this country.

This structure is pocketable and manageable for the Anglo-Saxons.
Not the IMF itself, but the US government decides what and how the International Monetary Fund should decide. Why? Because the United States has a "controlling stake" of the IMF's votes, which was determined at the time of its creation. And the "independent" central banks are just part of the International Monetary Fund, they comply with the norms of this organization. Under the film of beautiful words about the stability of the world economy, about the desire to avoid crises and cataclysms, there was a structure designed to tie the whole world to the dollar and the pound once and for all.

IMF employees are not subject to anyone in the world, while they themselves have the right to demand any information. They cannot be denied.
Right in prea The emblem of the IMF's statute bears the inscription: “International Monetary Fund. Washington DC, USA"

Author: N.V. Starikov

The International Monetary Fund is a financial institution, despite the status of a UN special agency, which has gained notoriety. What is the IMF like, what are its functions according to the founding documents and in practice, how fair are the critics who call the fund's financial assistance disastrous for the economy of the lending countries?

The creation of the IMF, the goals of the fund

The concept of a monetary fund, whose mission will be to support financial stability throughout the world, called the "Charter of the IMF" was developed in July 1944 in the course of the Bretton Woods Conference under the auspices of the United Nations, which resolved issues of international financial and monetary interaction after the emerging end of World War II. war.

The date of creation of the IMF (English IMF, or International Monetary Fund) was December 27, 1945 - on this day, representatives of the first 29 countries of the IMF officially signed the final version of the corresponding agreement. De facto, the activities of the organization began only on March 1, 1947, when France took the first IMF loan. Today, the IMF unites 188 states, and the headquarters of the fund is located in Washington.

According to Article 1 of the IMF Charter, the International Monetary Fund has the following objectives:

promotion of cooperation of all countries in the monetary and financial sphere, joint solution of financial problems;

assistance in achieving and maintaining a high level of real incomes and employment of the population of the countries of the world, strengthening and developing the industrial and productive potential of all Member States without exception through the expansion and growth of international trade;

maintaining the stability of the currencies of the member states, preventing the devaluation of national currencies;

assistance in the formation and functioning of a multilateral settlement system for financial transactions between member countries, in the abolition of foreign exchange restrictions that stand in the way of the growth of world trade;

by providing financial assistance to Member States to enable them to correct imbalances in their balance of payments without introducing measures that could harm their national welfare;

to reduce the duration of imbalances in the balance of payments of member countries, while reducing the scale of these violations.

It is noteworthy that the so-called financial assistance of the Fund is provided exclusively in the form of loans, but they are not provided for the implementation of specific projects. The interest on them is small (0.5% per annum), however, lending often does not contribute to the development of the real sector of the economy and the production of competitive products. Shown below is the provision of the fund to various countries since 1972 for 40 years, i.e. from expiration date:

In the first post-war years, Europe was the main borrower of the fund to restore the economy that had suffered during the war. Since the early 1980s, the focus has shifted towards Latin America and Asia, and since the 1990s, Russia and the CIS countries have also played a significant role in loans. Ukraine is still in constant contact with the fund. Finally, since the 2000s, loans have been coming back to Europe, mainly Eastern.

It is noteworthy that the time before the year was the most favorable in the world and the least favorable for the fund - very few loans were required, respectively, the influence of the IMF on the world economy and politics greatly decreased. However, already in 2011, lending quickly recovered its volumes, which continued to grow further, including in connection with the Cypriot and Greek crisis.

From the graph, the IMF policy is clearly visible - to help all (not just poor) countries, focusing on current problems. At the same time, by the way, the complete or almost complete absence of loans to African countries is interesting. Any country in the IMF is either a borrower of the fund, receiving and paying off the loan, or its creditor in accordance with its quota. It can be seen that in addition to the decline before the last global crisis, the average historical amount of loans grew over time - compared to the end of the 80s, Europe in 2012 borrowed about 5-6 times more.

In what currency are loans calculated? The fact is that the IMF has its own non-cash means of payment, called "special drawing rights" (Eng. Special Drawing Rights, SDR). The scale at the top is in billions of SDRs. Formally, it is neither a debt obligation nor a currency.

The SDR rate has been pegged to a basket of 5 currencies since 2016 and is similar to . Nevertheless, there are differences - perhaps the main one is the presence of the Chinese yuan in the amount of almost 11% due to a decrease in the share of the euro. At the time of this article, the SDR exchange rate is 1.45 US dollars. You can see it, for example, here: http://bankir.ru/kurs/sdr-k-dollar-ssha/.

Functions of the IMF

The list of modern functions of the International Monetary Fund largely coincides with the 1st article of the IMF Charter:

expansion of international trade;

assistance to countries in the form of loans;

promotion of interstate interaction in monetary policy;

assistance in the preparation (education, internship) of economic personnel;

stabilization of exchange rates;

advising debtor countries;

development and implementation of world financial statistics standards;

collection, processing and publication of said statistics.

It is interesting that prominent economists criticize not only the methods of the IMF's work with debtor countries (that is, those with outstanding debts to the organization), but also the quality of the statistics published by the fund, as well as analytical reports.

Structure of the International Monetary Fund

The management of the fund and decisions on issuing loans are carried out by:

The Board of Governors is the name of the highest governing body of the International Monetary Fund. It consists of two authorized persons from each Member State - the manager and his deputy;

An executive board of 24 directors who represent certain member states or groups of countries. The head of the executive body - the managing director is invariably the plenipotentiary of Europe, and his first deputy is a US citizen. Eight directors are delegated by the states with the largest quotas in the IMF, the remaining 16 are elected by other participating countries, divided into the corresponding number of groups;

The International Monetary and Financial Committee is formally an advisory body consisting of twenty-four governors, including a representative of the Russian Federation. Performs, in particular, the function of developing strategic decisions regarding the global monetary and financial system;

The IMF Development Committee is another advisory body with similar functions.

Capitalization of the IMF and sources of funds of the fund

As of March 1, 2016, the size of the authorized capital of the IMF was about 467.2 billion SDR. The capital is formed by contributions to the currency fund of the member countries, paying as a rule 25% of the quota in SDR (or one of the world currencies) and the remaining 75% in their own national currency. Quotas are constantly reviewed - since the beginning of the fund's activities, there have already been 15 revisions. In 2015, there was another change with the delegation of about 6% from developed countries towards developing ones.

Important: almost all real decisions are made by a majority of 85% of the votes. At the same time, approximately 17 percent of the quota (for 2016, a contribution of about 42 billion SDRs) belongs to the United States of America, giving them an exclusive right of veto. Japan, which is in second place, has a quota almost three times lower - about 6%. The share of Russia is 2.7% (a contribution of about 6.5 billion SDR). So it is extremely difficult to call the critics of the organization who claim “the IMF is the USA” wrong or biased.




In fact, the United States and the European Union, which often supports them, have a sufficient quota in the IMF to make the vast majority of decisions. The efforts of China, Russia and India to increase quotas in the fund in accordance with the increased weight of these countries in the world economy are opposed by the United States and its allies, who do not want to lose political influence on other IMF countries through the "conditionality" of loans - presenting debtor states with mandatory political - economic requirements.

Nevertheless, one should not think that the financial problems of countries are solved only with the help of IMF money. For example, a recent loan to Greece of more than 300 billion euros was financed by the IMF by less than 10% and, in euro terms, amounted to only about 20 billion euros. A much larger amount - 130 billion € - was allocated by the European Financial Stability Fund, created in June 2010.

In addition to the quotas paid by the participating countries, the sources of financial resources of the monetary fund are:

gold holdings, officially around 90.5 million ounces and valued at SDR 3.2 billion. The organization accepts gold from the participating countries mainly as payment for interest on loans, after which it has the right to send it to finance new loan tranches;

loans from “financially secure” member states;

funds from donor trust funds and credit lines that the G7 and G20 countries open to the fund.

Russia joined the IMF in June 1992, immediately resorting to obtaining a loan. According to eyewitnesses, during one of his first visits to the Kremlin, Clinton was struck by the luxury of the halls and said to a colleague: "Are these people asking us for money?" For 6 years (from August 1992 to the beginning of August 1998), Russia borrowed more than $ 32 billion from the fund in total - however, loans did not help us achieve either the projected reduction in inflation or prevent the August default of 1998. Russia returned the loan from 2000 to 2005 years, taking advantage of rising oil prices, and since 2005 has become a creditor of the fund. The table below shows the distribution of loans in the 1990s and the lender's claims on Russia:




Financial aid or credit needle?

Many experts argue that the recommendations of the creditor fund to IMF borrowing countries de facto radically contradict the principles and goals declared by the Charter. Instead of developing the productive potential of the borrowing countries, they get hooked on the credit needle, while the real incomes of the population do not increase - they fall.

Critics of the fund explain that the conditions for receiving IMF loans are often:

deprivation of the borrowing state of the right to free issue of the national currency;

total privatization, including in areas of natural monopolies (housing and communal services, railway transport);

rejection of protectionist measures to protect domestic producers, support for small and medium businesses;

freedom of movement of capital, allowing their outflow abroad;

cuts in spending on social programs, the elimination of benefits for vulnerable segments of the population, the reduction of salaries in the public sector and pensions.

However, these measures often only exacerbate the crisis in the economy, the impoverishment / impoverishment of the population leads to a decrease in consumption, leading to a decline in production, bankruptcy of enterprises and a deterioration in the filling of the state budget. As a result, the government has to take new loans to pay off the previous ones.

Countries hardest hit by IMF dependency:

Rwanda, where the rejection of state support for farming and the devaluation of the national currency led to a drop in incomes of the population, pushing it into the abyss of a civil war between the Hutus and Tutsis with 1.5 million victims;

Yugoslavia, which collapsed due to problems with the economic alignment of the regions;

Argentina, which declared twice;

Mexico is the birthplace of domesticated corn, which has turned from an exporter of this agricultural crop into an importer.

According to forecasts, this list may be replenished with Ukraine, which is being forced by the creditor fund to raise gas prices. Its rise in price not only hits the pockets of citizens, but also finally nullifies the competitiveness of Ukrainian producers, which has already been undermined by the unfavorable Association Agreement with the EU. Ukraine, together with Romania and Hungary, is the largest current debtor of the International Monetary Fund.

But since there is no subjunctive mood in history, it is impossible to estimate what consequences a situation without financing from the IMF would lead to in different countries. So the position of the fund's defenders is something like this - maybe it didn't work out very well somewhere, but without a loan it would be even worse. And the critics of the fund attack not the very idea of ​​providing a loan, but the conditions accompanying the loan - which, in fact, have an ambiguous effect on the economy and do not prevent corruption, but in many ways look like an increase in the political influence of the main lender. And although the inefficiency of the current lending system is clear to almost everyone, real changes in such a cumbersome and politically important structure cannot happen "at the snap of a finger." What is currently more from the IMF - benefit or harm - everyone decides for himself.

General information

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the leading organization for international cooperation in the monetary and financial sector.

The IMF was created by decision of the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 in order to increase the stability of the world monetary and financial system. The USSR took part in the creation of the IMF, but for a number of reasons of a political nature refused to become one of its founders.

• The Governor from the Russian Federation in the IMF is the Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation A.G. Siluanov.
• Deputy Governor from Russia in the IMF - Chairman of the Bank of Russia E.S. Nabiullina.
• Executive Director from Russia in the IMF - A.V. Mozhin.

Targets and goals

The purpose of the activity is to maintain the stability of the global financial system.

The tasks of the IMF, in accordance with the Articles of Agreement (Charter), are:

• expansion of international cooperation in the monetary sphere;
• maintaining a balanced development of international trade relations;
• ensuring the stability of exchange rates, the orderliness of exchange regimes in the member countries;
• facilitating the creation of a multilateral settlement system and the elimination of currency restrictions;
• assistance to member countries in eliminating imbalances in the balance of payments through the temporary provision of funds;
• reducing external imbalances.

The main issues discussed during the regularly held Annual Meetings of the IMF Board of Directors and meetings of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) are: reform of the international financial architecture and, first of all, the management system, quotas and votes, changes in the monetary policy of developed countries and their impact on the global economy as a whole, increasing the role of emerging market countries, reform of financial regulation, etc.

Financial resources

The financial resources of the IMF are formed mainly through contributions from member countries' quotas to the capital of the Fund. Quotas are calculated according to a formula based, among other things, on the relative size of the member countries' economies. The size of the quota determines the amount of funds that member countries undertake to provide to the IMF, and also limits the amount of financial resources that can be provided to a given country as a loan.

Cooperation of the Russian Federation with the IMF

The IMF currently has 189 member countries (including the Russian Federation). Russia has been a member of the IMF since 1992. During the period of membership, Russia has attracted funds from the IMF to maintain the stability of its financial system, totaling about 15.6 billion SDRs. In January 2005, Russia paid off its debt to the Fund ahead of schedule, as a result of which it acquired the status of an IMF creditor. In connection with this decision of the Board of Directors of the IMF, Russia was included in the Financial Operations Plan (FOP) of the Fund, thereby entering the circle of IMF members whose funds are used in the financial operations of the IMF.

In connection with the Fourteenth Quota Review held on February 17, 2016, the quota of the Russian Federation in the IMF was increased from 9945 to 12903.7 million SDRs.

Given the permanent nature of the Bank of Russia’s operations to provide IMF funds within the Russian Federation’s quota, and also due to the indefinite nature of the obligations of the IMF member countries to provide IMF funds, the course for maintaining IMF financing by the Russian Federation is maintained, and the terms of the credit mechanisms (new borrowing agreements (NAB ), as well as bilateral agreements on borrowing) are extended on the terms proposed by the IMF.

The cooperation of the Russian Federation with the IMF is characterized by the active consulting activities of the Fund and the work with its participation to provide technical support (within the framework of the thematic missions of the Fund's experts, seminars, conferences, training events).

Cooperation between the Bank of Russia and the IMF

IMF Governor from Russia - Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Bank of Russia is Deputy Governor of the IMF from Russia. In 2010, the functions of financial interaction with the IMF were transferred by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation to the Bank of Russia. The Bank of Russia is the depository of the IMF funds in Russian rubles and carries out operations and transactions stipulated by the Fund's Charter.

The Bank of Russia acts as a depository of the IMF funds. In particular, two IMF ruble accounts No. 1 and No. 2 were opened with the Bank of Russia. In addition, several depo accounts have been opened with the Bank of Russia, on which promissory notes of the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Russia are registered in favor of the IMF. These bills are collateral for the obligations of the Russian Federation to make contributions to the capital of the IMF.

Currently, the Bank of Russia, on behalf of the Russian Federation, participates in providing financing to the IMF under loan agreements, information on which is given in the certificate posted at the following link: On loan agreements with the IMF.

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation cooperates with the IMF on various tracks of international work. Representatives of the Bank take part in sessions and annual meetings of the IMF, interacting at the expert level as part of a number of working groups, as well as during working meetings, consultations and videoconferences with IMF experts.

Since 2010, Russia (as a country with a globally systemically important financial sector) has been assessed for the state of the financial sector under the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), implemented by the IMF jointly with the World Bank. The role of the Bank of Russia is key in carrying out evaluation activities of the program. In this regard, it should be noted that the FSAP 2015/2016 has become the largest program since the beginning of its implementation in the Russian Federation. With the participation of the Bank of Russia, work is underway to prepare assessments of compliance with international standards and codes (ROSCs), in particular, in the area of ​​monetary policy, banking supervision and corporate governance. In this regard, the most relevant ROSCs for the Russian Federation at present are the assessment of the compliance of Russian banking regulation with the principles of the BCBS (ROSC BSP) and the assessment of the compliance of financial market regulation with the principles of the IOSCO (ROSC IOSCO) in 2016.

Representatives of the Bank of Russia take part in annual consultations with IMF missions under Article IV of the Fund's Charter, as well as in the preparation of the relevant final reports of the Fund.

An important area of ​​work is the participation of the Bank of Russia in the preparation of the IMF's Annual Report on Foreign Exchange Regimes and Foreign Exchange Restrictions (AREAER).

Additionally, it is necessary to note the participation of the Bank of Russia in the implementation of the G20 Initiative to eliminate information gaps in financial statistics and interaction with the IMF to implement the recommendations of this initiative in Russia.

In accordance with the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), the IMF provides data on the balance of payments, external debt, and the dynamics of foreign exchange reserves.

In cooperation with departments and organizations, the Bank of Russia ensures participation in the analytical and research activities of the IMF, in the preparation of IMF publications and in the holding of specialized seminars and conferences.

Currently, the Bank of Russia seeks to attract the expertise of the Fund in order to implement a number of recommendations based on the results of the FSAP 2015/2016 program in the field of developing stress testing methods in the Bank of Russia, as well as in order to improve the quality and efficiency of the monetary policy of the Bank of Russia and the level of training relevant professionals.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established simultaneously with the World Bank at a conference of central bank economists and other government officials of the major trading powers in Bretton Woods (USA) in July 1944. The governments of 29 countries signed the IMF Agreement on December 27, 1945. The fund began its activities on March 1, 1947. It has the status of a specialized agency of the United Nations.

The organization was created to restore international trade and create a stable world monetary system. The first country to receive IMF assistance on May 8, 1947, was France - it received $25 million to stabilize the financial system that had suffered during the German occupation.

At present, the main tasks of the fund are to coordinate the monetary and financial policies of the member countries, to provide them with short-term loans to regulate the balance of payments and maintain exchange rates.

The IMF played an important role in keeping the Bretton Woods agreements functioning, which consisted of a fixed price for gold and fixed exchange rates against the dollar (freely exchangeable for gold). In the first decades, the IMF most often issued loans to European countries to maintain a trade balance with the United States: Great Britain, France, Germany and other countries had to buy the dollar at a greatly inflated price due to its peg to gold (providing the dollar with gold for 25 years after the end of World War II the war was reduced from 55 to 22%). In particular, in 1966, the UK received $4.3 billion to prevent the devaluation of the pound sterling, but on November 18, 1967, the British currency still depreciated by 14.3%, from $2.8 to $2.4 per pound.

In 1971, due to rising military spending, the United States abolished the free exchange of dollars for gold for foreign governments: the Bretton Woods system ceased to exist. It was replaced by a new principle based on the free trade of currencies (the Jamaican Monetary System). After that, Western Europe no longer had to buy an overvalued dollar against gold and resort to IMF assistance to correct the trade balance. In this environment, the IMF switched to lending to developing countries. The reasons were the crises of oil importers after the crises of 1973 and 1979, the subsequent crises of the world economy and the transition to a market economy of the former socialist countries.

Starting in the 1970s, the IMF began to actively put forward demands on borrowing countries for structural economic reforms (the very possibility of making demands was introduced as early as 1952). Among the typical conditions for the allocation of loans was the reduction of state funding for agriculture and industry, the removal of barriers to imports, and the privatization of enterprises. IMF experts stated that these reforms would help states build an efficient market economy, however, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, as well as many experts, pointed out that the actions of the fund only worsened the situation of states, in particular, led to a significant decrease in food production and hunger. For a long time, Argentina, which began borrowing money from the Fund in 1985, was considered a model for the effective implementation of IMF recommendations, but in 2001 the state's economic policy led to a default and a protracted crisis.

The main sources of financial resources of the IMF are the quotas of the member states of the organization. Since 1967, the IMF has been issuing a global reserve payment unit for domestic settlements, known as special drawing rights (SDRs). It has a non-cash form, is used to regulate the balance of payments and can be exchanged for currency within the organization. The main source of funding for the IMF is the quotas of member states, which are transferred upon joining the organization and can subsequently be increased. The total resource of quotas is SDR 238 billion, or about $368 billion, of which Russia's share is SDR 5.95 billion (about $9.2 billion), or 2.5% of the total quotas. The largest share belongs to the United States - 42.12 billion SDR (about $65.2 billion), or 17.69% of the total quotas.

In 2010, the G20 leaders agreed in Seoul to revise quotas in favor of developing countries. As a result of the 14th quota review, their total size will be doubled from SDR 238.4 billion to SDR 476.8 billion, in addition, more than 6% of quotas will be reallocated from developed countries to developing countries. So far, this review of quotas has been ratified by the United States.

The supreme body of the IMF is the Board of Governors, which consists of two people (manager and his deputy) from each country - a member of the organization. Typically, these positions are occupied by finance ministers or heads of central banks. Traditionally, the Board of Governors meets once a year. At present, the representative of the Russian Federation in the council is the head of the Russian Ministry of Finance Anton Siluanov.

Administrative functions and day-to-day management are entrusted to the Managing Director (since 2011 this post has been occupied by Christine Lagarde) and the Board of Executive Directors, which consists of 24 people (eight directors are appointed from the USA, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, France, China, Saudi Arabia and The Russian Federation, the rest represent groups of states (for example, Northern Europe, North and South South America, etc.) Each of the directors has a certain number of votes depending on the size of the country's economy and its quota in the IMF.The Board is re-elected every 2 years. The Russian Federation has 2.39% of the total number of votes, the United States has the most votes - 16.75%.

As of August 2014, the largest IMF borrowers are Greece (with about $4.5 billion in loans), Ukraine (about $3 billion), and Portugal (about $2.3 billion). In addition, loans to maintain the stability of the national economy have been approved for Mexico, Poland, Colombia and Morocco. At the same time, Ireland has the largest debt to the IMF, about $30 billion.

Russia last received money from the IMF in 1999. In total, from 1992 to 1999, the IMF allocated $26.992 billion to Russia. The full repayment of Russia's debt to the IMF was announced on February 1, 2005.

The number of IMF employees is about 2.6 thousand in 142 countries of the world.

The organization is headquartered in Washington, DC.