The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were created in 1944, shortly before the end of World War II, at a conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. This gave the IMF leverage to begin designing economic policies for over 60 countries. Thus, the IMF has enormous influence not only in structuring the global economy, but also on real-life issues such as poverty, environmental sustainability and development. The IMF has created a system of modern day colonialism that saps the poor to fatten the rich The IMF, along with the WTO and the World Bank, is directing the global economy on a path of greater inequality and environmental destruction. Although industrialized countries have not borrowed from the IMF in twenty years, rich countries dominate decision making.
Voting power is determined by the amount of money that each country pays.
Each of these countries appoints their own representative to the executive board, while other groups of countries elect a representative. The disproportional amount of power held by wealthy countries translates into decisions that benefit wealthy bankers, investors and corporations from industrialized countries at the expense of sustainable development. Unlike the path followed by most industrialized countries, the IMF forces countries from the Global South to prioritize export production over the development of a diversified domestic economy. The cycle of poverty is perpetuated, not eliminated. The IMF is a secretive institution with no accountability The IMF is funded with taxpayer money, yet it operates from behind a veil of secrecy.