Key Takeaways

• The International Monetary Fund aims to reduce global poverty, encourage international trade, and promote financial stability and economic growth.
• The IMF has three main functions: overseeing economic development through policy advice, lending, and capacity development.

Upon the founding of the IMF, its three primary functions were:

• to oversee the fixed exchange rate arrangements between countries, [19] thus helping national governments manage their exchange rates and allowing these governments to prioritize economic growth, [25] and
• to provide short-term capital to aid the balance of payments [19] and prevent the spread of international economic crises.