International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF, external link) was established at the conference held in Bretton Woods (New Hampshire, USA) in July 1944 and is headquartered in Washington, D. C. The IMF currently has 191 member countries. Its main mission is to safeguard the stability of the international monetary system and thus prevent financial and currency crises. This is achieved through the promotion of economic policies that strengthen financial stability and foster international monetary cooperation. These policies are an essential prerequisite for productivity growth, job creation and overall economic prosperity. One of the IMF’s key activities is economic research, focusing on analyses of economic trends and their impact on individual countries and the global economy.
The IMF’s key activities are:
- providing surveillance of developments in the global economy and in the economies of individual member countries
- financial assistance to countries facing balance of needs,
- capacity development.
Organisational structure
The IMF’s highest decision-making body is the Board of Governors (external link). Each member country is represented by its finance minister or central bank governor. The Board of Governors meets annually at the IMF and World Bank Group Annual Meetings. Day-to-day operations are managed by the Executive Board (external link), which consists of 25 Executive Directors representing individual countries or their regional constituencies. The IMF is headed by the Managing Director, who also chairs the Executive Board. The current Managing Director, in office since 1 October 2019, is Kristalina Georgieva.
The Czech Republic’s relationship with the IMF
On 20 September 1990, the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (CSFR) acceded to the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund, thereby restoring the former Czechoslovakia’s membership in the Bretton Woods institutions. The CSFR became the IMF’s 152nd member. Following the division of the CSFR into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, succession to membership was ensured for both countries as of 1 January 1993. The Czech Republic is part of the Central and Eastern European constituency. Its current Executive Director is Yigit Korkmaz Yasar from Turkey, who also represents Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Belarus, Slovenia and Kosovo.
The official representative of the Czech Republic in the IMF, appointed by the government, is CNB Governor Aleš Michl. His alternate is CNB Board member Karina Kubelková.
The Czech Republic’s IMF quota is SDR 2,180.2 million.
All the Czech Republic’s debts to the IMF were repaid in 1994. The country achieved currency convertibility for current account transactions under Article VIII of the IMF Articles of Agreement on 1 October 1995. One of the key areas of cooperation is the Article IV consultations between the Czech Republic and the IMF, which aim to assess the state of the Czech economy and provide recommendations for its further development.