The IMF at a Glance The IMF, also known as the “Fund,” was conceived at a United Nations conference convened in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, in July 1944. The 44 governments represented at that conference sought to build a framework for economic cooperation that would avoid a repetition of the vicious circle of competitive devaluations that had contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The IMF’s responsibilities: The IMF's primary purpose is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system—the system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries (and their citizens) to transact with one other. This system is essential for promoting sustainable economic growth, increasing living standards, and reducing poverty. Following the recent global crisis, the Fund has been clarifying and updating its mandate to cover the full range of macroeconomic and financial sector issues that bear on global stability

Fast Facts on the IMF * Membership: 187 countries * Headquarters: Washington, D.C. * Executive Board: 24 Directors representing countries or groups of countries * Staff: Approximately 2,470 from 141 countries * Total quotas: US$383 billion (as of 8/18/11) * Additional pledged or committed resources: US$600 billion * Loans committed (as of 8/18/11): US$282 billion, of which US$213 billion have not been drawn (see table) * Biggest borrowers (amount agreed as of 8/18/11): Greece, Portugal, Ireland * Biggest precautionary loans (amount agreed as of 8/18/11): Mexico, Poland, Colombia * Original aims: Article I of the Articles of Agreement sets out the IMF’s main goals: * promoting international monetary cooperation; * facilitating the expansion and balanced growth of international trade; * promoting exchange stability; * assisting in the establishment of a multilateral system of payments; and * making resources available (with adequate safeguards) to members experiencing balance of payments difficulties

Resources: The IMF’s resources are provided by its member countries, primarily through payment of quotas, which broadly reflect each country’s economic size. At the April 2009 G-20 Summit, world leaders pledged to support a tripling of the IMF's lending resources from about US$250 billion to US$750 billion. To deliver on this pledge, the current and new participants in the New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) agreed to expand the NAB to about US$590 billion, which was approved by the Executive Board of the IMF on April 12, 2010 and became effective on March 11, 2011 following completion of the ratification process by NAB participants. When concluding the 14th General Review of Quotas inDecember 2010, Governors agreed to double the IMF’s quota resources to approximately US$767 billion and a major realignment of quota shares among members. When the quota increase becomes effective, there will be acorresponding rollback in NAB resources.
Historically, the annual expenses of running the Fund have been met mainly by interest receipts on outstanding loans, but the membership recently agreed to adopt a new income model based on a range of revenue sources better suited to the diverse activities of the Fund.

The current quota formula is a weighted average of GDP (weight of 50 percent), openness (30 percent), economic variability (15 percent), and international reserves (5 percent). For this purpose, GDP is measured as a blend of GDP based on market exchange rates (weight of 60 percent) and on PPP exchange rates (40 percent). The formula also includes a “compression factor” that reduces the dispersion in calculated quota shares across members.

Quotas are denominated in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), the IMF’s unit of account. The largest member of the IMF is the United States, with a current quota of SDR 42.1 billion (about $68 billion), and the smallest member is Tuvalu, with a current quota of SDR 1.8 million (about $2.9 million).