International Monetary Fund | A short recap

• 1944: The IMF was established at the Bretton Woods Conference in New Hampshire, USA, with the goal of promoting international monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability.
• 1947: The IMF provided its first loan to France to assist with post-World War II reconstruction efforts.
• 1952: The IMF launched the first of its regular surveillance reports, which evaluate the economic policies of member countries.
• 1969: The IMF created the Special Drawing Right (SDR), a supplementary reserve asset that can be used to supplement member countries’ official reserves.
• 1971: The collapse of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates led to a major reorientation of the IMF’s policies and programs.
• 1982: The IMF began providing structural adjustment loans to developing countries, which were intended to promote economic growth and stability through policy reforms.
• 1995: The IMF launched the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility, which provided loans to low-income countries with the goal of promoting economic growth and poverty reduction.
• 1998: The Asian financial crisis led to a major expansion of the IMF’s lending and surveillance activities in the region.
• 2009: The global financial crisis led to a significant increase in the IMF’s lending activities, including the creation of new lending facilities and the provision of emergency loans to several countries.
• 2015: The IMF adopted a new framework for assessing the stability of the global financial system, known as the Integrated Surveillance Decision.
• 2020: The IMF provided emergency financing to several countries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the creation of the Rapid Financing Instrument and the COVID-19 Emergency Financing Facility.