{
  "id": "RL30575",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL30575",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 101936,
      "date": "2000-06-06",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:36:13.329941",
      "title": "The International Monetary Fund: An Overview of Its Mission and Operations",
      "summary": "The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the institution designed to support global trade and\neconomic growth by helping maintain stability in the international financial system. Originally\ncreated to finance short-term balance of payments deficits during the Bretton Woods era of\ngold/dollar fixed exchange rates (1944-1971), in the current world where flexible exchange rates\ndominate in the industrial economies, it has focused on developing countries where ever larger\nfinancial crises have erupted. As part of the periodic IMF quota review process, the U.S. Congress\nin October 1998 appropriated funds to increase the IMF quota at a time when many challenged the\nIMF's abilities to help resolve these financial crises. Congress attached a number of conditions,\nincluding a call for major reevaluation of the IMF. This report supports congressional interest in the\nIMF by providing a basic understanding of its mission and operations, and how they may have\nevolved.\n  The permanent assets of the IMF used for lending ($283 billion) are provided by the member\ncountries, which join the Fund by making a capital subscription (quota) and agreeing to abide by\nrules of the charter. The quota also determines a country's voting power and borrowing capacity. \nThe IMF also maintains two borrowing arrangements with selected member countries for times when\nthe Fund may not be sufficiently liquid to meet all borrowing needs. The General Arrangements to\nBorrow (GAB) is a $23 billion credit line established with 11 industrialized countries in 1962. The\nNew Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) was established following the 1994-95 Mexican peso crisis\nas a supplemental line of credit with 25 member countries, adding another $23 billion of borrowing\nauthority.\n  The IMF provides hard currencies to member countries with balance of payments problems\nbased on need, willingness to adjust economic policies, and ability to repay. Under the general\nresources account there are three types of financing facilities: 1) stand-by arrangements; 2) extended\narrangements (these two constitute most IMF assistance); and 3) special facilities. Two programs\ncreated since December 1997, the Supplemental Reserve Facility (SRF) and the Contingent Credit\nLine (CCL), amount to special access policies and limits to stand-by and extended arrangements\nunder extenuating circumstances. As part of the IMF's evolving sense of mission, it has developed\nlending facilities to address the needs of the poorest developing countries: the Poverty Reduction and\nGrowth Facility (PRGF) -- renamed in November 1999 from the Enhanced Structural Adjustment\nFacility (ESAF); and the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.\n  Many view events in the 1990s as evidence of the IMF's limitations to predict and ameliorate\nfinancial panics. The central question remains, what role should or can the IMF play in reducing\ninstability in an increasingly liberalized and, at times, volatile international financial system. The\ndebate has at least two key focal points: 1) rethinking what should be expected from national policies\nand institutions, particularly financial market regulation and oversight in developing countries, to\nhelp reduce the frequency and extremity of financial panics; and 2) rethinking how the IMF should\noperate in numerous functional areas.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Economic Policy",
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "Industry and Trade"
  ]
}