International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The history of the IMF

The IMF was originally a part of the Bretton Woods System exchange agreement in 1944. This was a monetary management between the United States, Canada, the Western European countries, Australia and Japan. After the second world war the economies in many countries were failing and it came to devaluations of national currencies. The countries wanted to improve these economies and 45 governments met at the Bretton Woods conference in the Mount of Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods to discuss possible cooperations in improving economies around the world and ideas in rebuilding Europe after the second world war. The IMF finally came to existance on 27 december 1945 with 29 countries. In the end of 1946 the IMF already had 39 members. The first financial operations could began in march 1947 and on 8 may the same year France could borrow Money for the first time. Now all countries who are memebrs of the IMF have the possibility to borrow money like Greece, Portugal, Ireland and France for example did.