ABSTRACT
This chapter explores two areas: the main developments in the organisation and work of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since 1973 and the management of the international debt crisis, including the role of the IMF. The IMF and the World Bank were formally set up on 27 December 1945, following the Bretton Woods Conference, attended by 44 countries. The institutional arrangements were based on the clear distinction in principle that the IMF was to be a revolving fund, lending surpluses to deficit countries on a temporary basis. A special organisational feature of the Bank is the strong position of its president who, as the chief executive, is responsible for recommending the terms and conditions of loans to the governing directors, as well as organisational questions relating to the staffing and running of the Bank. The impact of the IMF and the Bank during the late 1940s and early 1950s was limited in view of the scale of post-war reconstruction.
