The International Monetary Fund

The IMF is an international cooperative institution, whose main mission consists of promoting and assisting in global monetary stability. The IMF was set up in 1944, at Bretton Woods, with the aim of preventing the competitive exchange rate adjustments that characterized the interwar period. At the beginning, 44 nations gathered at the resort community of Bretton Woods, led by two key figures: the British economist, Sir John Maynard Keynes and the American deputy secretary of state, Harry Dexter. The 44 representatives agreed, primarily, to create the IMF as the second international institution to aid member states in need of foreign exchange conduct international trade and, secondarily, to facilitate the removal of the exchange controls for trade benefits.