The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank

• Both of these organisations were established at the end of the World War II at the Bretton Woods Conference held in the USA. This world conference, hosted by the Allies, set out to determine the fate of the post war international economic order.
  
  
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was set up to enable countries to trade. The IMF will give loans to countries when their imports are greater than their exports, (when their costs are higher than their income).

• The World Bank provides long term loans to developing countries.

• Traditionally the World Bank has funded large scale infrastructure projects, but it now also lends to the social sector.

• The IMF and World Bank are low income countries harshest creditors. Since the early 1980s countries like Zambia that owe the IMF and World Bank money, have had to follow policies favoured by the IMF and World Bank (SAPs) to get new loans or even aid money. These policies directly affect the lives and livelihoods of people in indebted countries.

• The IMF and World Bank are both membership based organisations. There are presently 183 member countries in both organisations. Voting in both the IMF and World Bank is weighted according to a country's financial contributions. The most powerful members are the G8 or the richest countries in the world (Italy, US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Russia).

• Ireland's main role in the debt crisis is through membership of both the IMF and the World Bank. Ireland has been a member of both institutions since 1957. We do not have a seat on the Board of either institution as our membership contributions are too small. We are instead represented on the Boards of both institutions by Canada.

• The Department of Finance is the government Department which has direct responsibility in relation to our membership of the IMF and World Bank.

• Since 1999 the Department of Finance produce a report on Ireland's membership of both bodies. The Minister for Finance, presently Minister McCreevy, attends the annual Spring and Autumn meetings of both institutions in Washington DC.