Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: IMF |
IMFNoun1. A United Nations agency to promote trade by increasing the exchange stability of the major currencies. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Census | (International Monetary Fund) A forum in which members discuss monetary exchange problems and provide advice on how best to manage currency and related international monetary exchange policies. (references) |
Space | Interplanetary magnetic field (see below). (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The IMF (International Monetary Fund) is an international organization. It is responsible for managing the global financial system and for providing loans to its member states to help alleviate balance of payments problems. Part of its mission is to help countries that experience serious economic difficulties. In return, the countries who are helped are obliged to launch certain reforms, such as privatizations.
History and Background
Agreement for its creation came at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA, in 1944; the organisation came into existence in 1946, as part of a post-WWII reconstruction plan, and began financial operations on March 1, 1947. Accordingly, it is sometimes referred to as "a Bretton Woods institution", along with the Bank for International Settlements(BIS) and the World Bank. Together, these three institutions define the monetary policy shared by almost all countries with market economies. In order to gain access to IMF loans, BIS privilege, and strategic World Bank development loans, a country must normally agree to terms set forth by all three organizations.Argentina, which was considered by the IMF to be a model country, experienced a serious economic crisis in 2001. This crisis created a movement of hatred against this institution.
Criticisms
The role of these institutions has been controversial among some since the late Cold War period. Critics claim that IMF policymakers deliberately supported military dictatorships that were friendly to American and European corporations. Critics also claim that the IMF is generally hostile to democracy, human rights, and labor rights. These criticisms generated a controversy that helped spark the anti-globalization movement.Others say the IMF has little power to democratize sovereign states, nor is that its stated objective. However, they say its advice is intended to promote financial stability, which in turn may indirectly further democracy. Economic chaos is seldom a good starting point for a stable democracy.
Most altermondialists, like ATTAC, believe that IMF interventions aggravate the poverty and the debts of Third World and developing countries.
Adherents of supply-side economics generally find themselves in open disagreement with the IMF because typically the IMF advocates a Keynesian approach to economics. That is, the IMF typically advocates "high taxes" (refered to by the IMF as austerity) and "inflation" (refereded to by the IMF as devaluation). Both ideas that are out of favour with supply siders because they are seen as destructive to economic prosperity.
Opposition to the IMF is very fragmented. For instance advocates of Supply-side economics would in general regard the policies advocated by ATTAC to be little different in form to the ideas peddled by the IMF. In other words they would see ATTAC tax and spend policies and the IMFs austerity policies as being little different.
Leaders of the IMF
The IMF is headed by a Managing Director:
- 1946 - 1951 - Camille Gutt,
- 1951 - 1956 - Ivar Rooth,
- 1956 - 1963 - Per Jacobsson,
- 1963 - 1973 - Pierre-Paul Schweitzer
- 1973 - 1978 - H. Johannes Witteveen,
- 1978 - 1987 - Jacques de Larosière,
- January 16, 1987 - February 14, 2000 - Michel Camdessus,
- May 1, 2000 - Horst Köhler
Quotes
- April 2000 -- IMF World Outlook Report
- "In the recent decades, nearly 20% of the world population has regressed. This is arguably one of the greatest economic failures of the 20th Century."
- April 2001 -- former World Bank economist Joseph E. Stiglitz
- "When a nation is down and out, the IMF takes advantage and squeezes the last pound of blood out of them. They turn up the heat until, finally, the whole cauldron blows up. It has condemned people to death." (1 p.50-51)
See also
- Economics
- Special Drawing Rights,
- Bank for International Settlements,
- World Bank
External link
- International Monetary Fund website http://www.imf.org
References
- The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast (2002)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "International Monetary Fund."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
IMF | Danish | Den internationale Valutafond | Finance |
IMF | Dutch | Internationaal Monetair Fonds | Finance |
IMF | English | International Managers' Forum | N/A |
IMF | Finnish | Kansainvälinen valuuttarahasto | Public Administration |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonym: IMFSynonym: International Monetary Fund. (additional references) |
Crosswords: IMF |
| Specialty definitions using "IMF": Arab Monetary Fund ♦ Ex ante financing gap ♦ geneeskundige ethiek, General Arrangement to Borrow, gross international reserves in months of imports ♦ IMF polarity, IMF quota, institutional ratio, Interplanetary magnetic field ♦ Polar rain ♦ quota in the IMF. (references) |
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Periodicals |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
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| "Imf" by Michelle Kwajafa Commentary: "I think this is the side of the IMF building in Washington DC. but i can't remember :p." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | The President’s embrace of the IMF program has greatly sped up the drive toward a more open market. (references) | |
With a minimal IMF recommended density of 25 access lines per 100 people, this figure comprises 6.7 access lines per 100 people in Uzbekistan. (references) | ||
However, starting in late 1999, due to a series of tough economic reforms and a three-year stand-by agreement with the IMF, interest rates dropped significantly. (references) | ||
Economic History | Poland | In 1995, Poland paid back all IMF drawings. (references) |
Sri Lanka | The 14-month IMF program envisages $253 million. (references) | |
Equatorial Guinea | IMF officials also have emphasized the need for economic data. (references) | |
Political Economy | INDIA | For example, the IMF estimates GDP growth as low as 4.5 percent. (references) |
ROMANIA | The IMF Board approved a new 380 million Stand-By Agreement on October 31. (references) | |
KUWAIT | IMF statistics suggest the 2000/2001 fiscal surplus reached 37 percent of GDP. (references) | |
Trade | Moldova | The laws, prepared with IMF assistance, correspond to international standards. (references) |
Indonesia | The GOI has accumulated foreign exchange reserves above the targets set in its IMF program. (references) | |
Vietnam | Though the restrictions imposed by the IMF have expired, the Vietnamese are continuing to follow them. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Jimmy Carter | 1977-1981 | Recent agreement to increase quotas by fifty percent will ensure the IMF has sufficient resources to perform its central role in promoting adjustment and financing payments imbalances. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "IMF" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 69.47% of the time. "IMF" is used about 605 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 69.47% | 421 | 13,527 |
| Noun (proper) | 16.5% | 100 | 32,668 |
| Noun (common) | 7.1% | 43 | 52,181 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 5.94% | 36 | 57,479 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 0.99% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Total | 100.00% | 605 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "IMF": IMF quota ♦ quota in the IMF. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "IMF": imf-approved, imf-backed, imf-dictated, imf-endorsed, imf-imposed, imf-inspired, imf-monitored, imf-sponsored, imf-supported, imf-world. | |
Ending with "IMF": post-imf. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "IMF"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 國際貨幣基金組織 (International Monetary Fund). (various references) | |
Danish | IMF-kvote (IMF quota, quota, quota in the IMF), Verdensbankens og IMFs repraesentantskabers faelles ministerkomité for overfoersel af reale ressourcer til udviklingslandene (Development Committee, Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), Udviklingskomiteen (Development Committee, Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), regeringers kapitalindskud i internationale organisationer,dog med undtagelse af IMF,også selv om disse organisationer juridisk set er aktieselskaber (government investments in the capital of international organisations, with the sole exception of the IMF even if these are legally constituted as companies with share capital), kvote i IMF (IMF quota, quota, quota in the IMF), forskrivninger på national valuta udstedt til IMF som betaling for den del af tegningskvoten-eller forøgelsen af kvoten-der skal betales i national valuta (treasury bills in national currency remitted to the IMF in settlement of that part of the subscription quota-or of the increase in the quota-to be made in national currency), den til IMF anmeldte og af denne anerkendte paritet (parity communicated to and recognized by the IMF), aktiver over for IMF (assets lodged with the IMF). (various references) | |
Dutch | schatkistpapier in nationale valuta overgemaakt aan het IMF ter regeling van het deel van de inschrijvingsquote of van de vermeerdering van de quote en dat kan worden teruggekocht in nationale valuta (treasury bills in national currency remitted to the IMF in settlement of that part of the subscription quota-or of the increase in the quota-to be made in national currency), quotum bij het IMF (IMF quota, quota, quota in the IMF), Ontwikkelingscomité (Development Committee, Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), Gezamenlijk Ministerieel Comité van Gouverneurs van de Wereldbank en het IMF voor de overdracht van reele middelen aan de ontwikkelingslanden (Development Committee, Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), de subrubriek netto IMF-positie dient ter afzondering van de vorderingen en verplichtingen van de monetaire autoriteiten die het gevolg zijn van transacties met het IMF in het kader van trekkingen.Deze transacties hebben betrekking op vorderingen die op d (drawings, etc.);the assets involved in such transactions should be treated similarly to transferable sight deposits in foreign currency, repurchases, the sub-heading net position in the IMF is intended to identify those financial assets and liabilities of the monetary authorities which result from transactions with the IMF(subscriptions), bij het IMF opgegeven en door deze instelling erkende pariteit (parity communicated to and recognized by the IMF), bij het IMF aangehouden activa (assets lodged with the IMF). (various references) | |
French | quote-part au FMI (IMF quota, quota in the IMF), participations des gouvernements au capital des organismes internationaux à la seule exception du FMI,même si ces derniers ont la forme juridique d'une société par actions (with the sole exception of the IMF even if these are legally constituted as companies with share capital), la sous-rubrique position nette à l'égard du FMI est destiné à isoler parmi les créances et les engagements des autorités monétaires,ceux qui résultent d'opérations intervenues avec le FMI dans le cadre de tirages,opérations portant sur des cré (the sub-heading net position in the IMF is intended to identify those financial assets and liabilities of the monetary authorities which result from transactions with the IMF(subscriptions), Comité ministériel conjoint des gouverneurs de la Banque mondiale et du FMI sur le transport de ressources réelles aux pays en développement (Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), Comité de développement (Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), bons du Trésor en monnaie nationale remis au FMI en règlement de la fraction du quota de souscription-ou de l'augmentation du quota-à libérer en monnaie nationale (treasury bills in national currency remitted to the IMF in settlement of that part of the subscription quota-or of the increase in the quota-to be made in national currency), actifs détenus auprès du FMI (assets lodged with the IMF). (various references) | |
German | iwf (International Monetary Fund). (various references) | |
Greek | Mικτή Yπουργική Eπιτροπή των Διοικητών της Διεθνούς Tράπεζας και του ΔNT γι πραγματικών πόρων στις αναπτυσσόμενες χώρες (Development Committee, Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), κρατικές συμμετοχές στο κεφάλαιο διεθνών οργανισμών,με μοναδική εξαίρεση το ΔΝΤ,ακόμα και όταν οι οργανισμοί αυτοί έχουν συσταθεί με τη μο (government investments in the capital of international organisations, with the sole exception of the IMF even if these are legally constituted as companies with share capital), έντοκα γραμμάτια του δημοσίου σε εθνικό νόμισμα,που εμβάζονται στο ΔΝΤ για το σχηματισμό του μέρους του ποσοστού συμμετοχής-ή της αύξησης (treasury bills in national currency remitted to the IMF in settlement of that part of the subscription quota-or of the increase in the quota-to be made in national currency), στοιχεία ενεργητικού κατατεθειμένα στο ΔNT (assets lodged with the IMF), ισοτιμία που έχει δηλωθεί στο ΔNT και έχει αναγνωρισθεί από αυτό (parity communicated to and recognized by the IMF), μερίδιο στο ΔNT (IMF quota, quota, quota in the IMF), ποσοστό συμμετοχής στο ΔNT (IMF quota, quota, quota in the IMF), η υποκατηγορία καθαρή θέση στο ΔNT σκοπό έχει να καθορίσει εκείνες τις απαιτήσεις και τις υποχρεώσεις των νομισματικών αρχών που προκύπτου (drawings, etc.);the assets involved in such transactions should be treated similarly to transferable sight deposits in foreign currency, repurchases, the sub-heading net position in the IMF is intended to identify those financial assets and liabilities of the monetary authorities which result from transactions with the IMF(subscriptions), Eπιτροπή Aνάπτυξης (Development Committee, Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries). (various references) | |
Italian | quota al FMI (IMF quota, quota, quota in the IMF), partecipazione dei pubblici poteri al capitale degli organismi internazionali con la sola eccezione per il FMI,anche se questi ultimi hanno la forma giuridica di società per azioni (government investments in the capital of international organisations, with the sole exception of the IMF even if these are legally constituted as companies with share capital), parità dichiarata presso il FMI e riconosciuta da quest'ultimo (parity communicated to and recognized by the IMF), La sottocategoria posizione netta nei riguardi del FMI è destinata a isolare,tra le attività e le passività delle autorità monetarie,quelle che risultano da operazioni effettuate con il FMI nel quadro dei prelievi.Tali operazioni concernono attivita d (drawings, etc.);the assets involved in such transactions should be treated similarly to transferable sight deposits in foreign currency, repurchases, the sub-heading net position in the IMF is intended to identify those financial assets and liabilities of the monetary authorities which result from transactions with the IMF(subscriptions), Comitato ministeriale misto dei governatori della Banca mondiale e del FMI sul trasferimento di risorse effettive ai paesi in via di sviluppo (Development Committee, Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), Comitato di sviluppo (Development Committee, Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), buoni del tesoro in moneta nazionale rimessi al FMI come regolamento della frazione della quota sottoscritta-o per aumento della quota-da versare in moneta nazionale (treasury bills in national currency remitted to the IMF in settlement of that part of the subscription quota-or of the increase in the quota-to be made in national currency), attività detenute presso il FMI (assets lodged with the IMF). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | アーリア人 (art deco, art nouveau, Aryan, climbing irons, crampons, eye, eye shadow, eyeshade, frozen treat similar to a Popsicle, IACA, ice, ice candy, ice cream, ice cream soda, ice cube, ice dancing, ice hockey, ice pail, ice pick, ice rink, ice show, ice skating place, ice smack, ice tongs, icebox, icecream sundae, iced coffee, iced tea, icefall, Iceland, ice-skating, icetea, icing, icing the puck, icon, iconify, ILO, intelligence quotient, International Atomic Energy Agency, International Labor Organization, International Monetary Fund, ion, IQ, iron, iron club, measure of area, metal pins of climbing shoes, popsicle, Rh, Rhesus factor, skating rink, to take the radius). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | アイエムエフ (International Monetary Fund). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | imfay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | quota-parte no FMI (IMF quota, quota, quota in the IMF), participações dos Estados no capital de organismos internacionais,com a única excepção do FMI mesmo que estes últimos tenham a forma jurídica de uma sociedade por acções (government investments in the capital of international organisations, with the sole exception of the IMF even if these are legally constituted as companies with share capital), paridade comunicada ao FMI e por este reconhecida (parity communicated to and recognized by the IMF), Comité Ministerial Conjunto dos Governadores do Banco Mundial e do FMI sobre a transferência de recursos reais para os países em vias de desenvolvimento (Development Committee, Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), Comité de Desenvolvimento (Development Committee, Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), bilhetes do Tesouro em moeda nacional entregues ao FMI como liquidação de parte da quota de subscrição-ou do aumento da quota-a efectuar em moeda nacional (treasury bills in national currency remitted to the IMF in settlement of that part of the subscription quota-or of the increase in the quota-to be made in national currency), activos detidos junto do FMI (assets lodged with the IMF). (various references) | |
Russian | международный валютный фонд. (various references) | |
Spanish | participaciones de los gobiernos en el capital de organizaciones internacionales con la única excepción del FMI aunque estas últimas tengan la forma jurídica de sociedad por acciones (government investments in the capital of international organisations, with the sole exception of the IMF even if these are legally constituted as companies with share capital), paridad declarada ante el FMI y aceptada por éste (parity communicated to and recognized by the IMF), la subrúbrica posición neta en el FMI se destina a identificar aquellos activos y pasivos financieros de las autoridades monetarias, que resultan de operaciones realizadas con el FMI en el marco de los giros. Los activos financieros implicados en estas (drawings, etc.);the assets involved in such transactions should be treated similarly to transferable sight deposits in foreign currency, repurchases, the sub-heading net position in the IMF is intended to identify those financial assets and liabilities of the monetary authorities which result from transactions with the IMF(subscriptions), cuota del FMI (IMF quota, quota, quota in the IMF), Comité ministerial conjunto de los Consejos de los Gobernadores del Banco y del Fondo sobre la transferencia de recursos reales a los países en vías de desarrollo (Development Committee, Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), Comité de Desarrollo (Development Committee, Joint Ministeriel Committee of the Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries), bonos del Tesoro en moneda nacional abonados al FMI en concepto de liquidación de la fracción de la cuota de suscripción-o del aumento de la cuota-pagadera en moneda nacional (treasury bills in national currency remitted to the IMF in settlement of that part of the subscription quota-or of the increase in the quota-to be made in national currency), activos depositados en el FMI (assets lodged with the IMF). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words containing "IMF": aimful, aimfully, brimful, brimfull, flimflam, flimflammed, flimflammer, flimflammeries, flimflammers, flimflammery, flimflamming, flimflams, rimfire, rimfires. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "f-i-m" | |
-1 letter: if, mi. | |
| Words containing the letters "f-i-m" | |
+1 letter: film, firm, miff. | |
+2 letters: fermi, films, filmy, filum, firms, mafia, mafic, miffs, miffy, motif, mufti. | |
+3 letters: affirm, aimful, biform, comfit, family, famine, faming, famish, famuli, favism, fermis, filmed, filmer, filmic, fimble, firman, firmed, firmer, firmly, flimsy, folium, fomite, formic, fumier, fuming, fumuli, infamy, infirm, inform, maffia, mafias, maftir, massif, miffed, minify, misfit, modify, motifs, muffin, muftis, ramify, refilm. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Digital Art 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Quotations: Speeches 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Abbreviations | 13. Acronyms 14. Derivations 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.