The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is concerned with global economic growth and security. It is a specialized agency of the United Nations. The IMF works to promote exchange rate stability, balanced growth of international trade, and poverty reduction.
In order to help assure global stability, IMF activities fall within three categories:
- Surveillance of economic developments on a national, regional, and global scale.
- Technical assistance for low- and middle-income countries on designing and/or upgrading macroeconomic, financial, and structural policies.
- Lending to countries in need of financial assistance in order to rebuild international reserves, stabilize currencies, and/or pay for imports.
You can expect to find the following types of information and/or publications from the FAO:
- Research, statistics, forecasts, and analysis based on tracking of global, regional, and individual economies and markets
- The Global Financial Stability Report; published twice per year, provides up-to-date analysis of developments in global financial markets
- Annual economic health checks of member countries
- Updates about its lending programs
