Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > International Monetary Fund

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a specialized agency of the UNITED NATIONS that seeks to promote international monetary cooperation and to stimulate international trade. The IMF, which in 2003 had 184 nation-members, has worked to stabilize world currencies and to develop programs of economic adjustment for nations that require economic reform.

The IMF was created in 1944 at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, held at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. It first began operation in 1947, from its headquarters in Washington, D.C., with a fund of $9 billion in currency, of which the United States contributed almost a third. The creation of the IMF was seen as a way to prevent retaliatory currency devaluations and trade restrictions, which were seen as a major cause of the worldwide depression prior to