International Monetary Fund (IMF)
The IMF promotes international monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability, facilitates the balanced growth of international trade, and provides resources to help members in balance of payments difficulties or to assist with poverty reduction.
Through its economic surveillance, the IMF keeps track of the economic health of its member countries, alerting them to risks on the horizon and providing policy advice. It also lends to countries in difficulty, and provides technical assistance and training to help countries improve economic management. This work is backed by IMF research and statistics.
The IMF supports its membership by providing:
- policy advice to governments and central banks based on analysis of economic trends and cross-country experiences;
- research, statistics, forecasts, and analysis based on tracking of global, regional, and individual economies and markets;
- loans to help countries overcome economic difficulties;
- concessional loans to fight poverty in developing countries; and
- technical assistance and training to help countries improve the management of their economies.