Editing International Monetary Fund (section)

==Member countries==
[[File:International Monetary Fund (art.VIII).png|thumb|right|upright=1.5|{{legend|#008000|IMF member states }} {{legend|#00FF00|IMF member states not accepting the obligations of Article VIII, Sections 2, 3, and 4<ref>[http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/aa/aa08.htm Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund, Article VIII – General Obligations of Members]<br />Section 2: Avoidance of restrictions on current payments;<br /> Section 3: Avoidance of discriminatory currency practices;<br />Section 4: Convertibility of foreign-held balances.</ref>}} {{legend|#CDC3CC|Former IMF states/non-participants/no data available}}]]

Not all member countries of the IMF are sovereign states, and therefore not all "member countries" of the IMF are members of the United Nations.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Countries |title=IMF Country Information |website=IMF |access-date=8 May 2023 |archive-date=20 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920202727/http://www.imf.org/external/country/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Amidst "member countries" of the IMF that are not member states of the UN are non-sovereign areas with special jurisdictions that are officially under the sovereignty of full UN member states, such as [[Aruba]], [[Curaçao]], [[Hong Kong]], and [[Macau|Macao]], as well as [[Kosovo]].<ref name=imfkos>{{cite web |title=Republic of Kosovo is now officially a member of the IMF and the World Bank |work=The Kosovo Times |date=29 June 2009 |url=http://www.kosovotimes.net/flash-news/676-republic-of-kosovo-is-now-officially-a-member-of-the-imf-and-the-world-bank.html |access-date=29 June 2009 |quote=Kosovo signed the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank) on behalf of Kosovo at the State Department in Washington. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090702140822/http://www.kosovotimes.net/flash-news/676-republic-of-kosovo-is-now-officially-a-member-of-the-imf-and-the-world-bank.html |archive-date=2 July 2009 }}</ref><ref name=imfkospr>{{cite press release |title=Kosovo Becomes the International Monetary Fund's 186th Member |publisher=International Monetary Fund |date=29 June 2009 |url=http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2009/pr09240.htm |access-date=29 June 2009 |archive-date=5 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705094550/http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2009/pr09240.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The corporate members appoint ''ex-officio'' [[#Voting power|voting members, who are listed below]]. All members of the IMF are also [[International Bank for Reconstruction and Development]] (IBRD) members and vice versa.<ref>{{cite web |title=Member Countries |url=https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership/members |website=World Bank IBRD IDA |publisher=The World Bank |access-date=22 April 2021 |archive-date=15 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815221613/https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/leadership/members |url-status=live }}</ref>

Former members are [[Cuba]] (which left in 1964),<ref name=cuba>{{cite web |title=Brazil calls for Cuba to be allowed into IMF |work=Caribbean Net News |date=27 April 2009 |url=http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cuba/cuba.php?news_id=15996&start=0&category_id=5 |access-date=7 May 2009 |quote=Cuba was a member of the IMF until 1964, when it left under revolutionary leader Fidel Castro following his confrontation with the United States.}}{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and [[Taiwan]], which was ejected from the IMF<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/history/2001/ch19.pdf |title=Toward Universal Membership |access-date=14 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212624/http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/history/2001/ch19.pdf |archive-date=3 March 2016 }}</ref> in 1980 after losing the support of the then United States President [[Jimmy Carter]] and was replaced by the [[China|People's Republic of China]].<ref name="The Wall Street Journal">{{cite news |last1=Andrews |first1=Nick |author2=Bob Davis |title=Kosovo Wins Acceptance to IMF |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=7 May 2009 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124154560907188151 |access-date=7 May 2009 |quote=Taiwan was booted out of the IMF in 1980 when China was admitted, and it hasn't applied to return since. |archive-date=9 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109231723/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124154560907188151 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, "[[Taiwan Province of China]]" is still listed in the official IMF indices.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2012/01/weodata/co.htm |title=World Economic Outlook Database for April 2012 – Country information |publisher=Imf.org |date=17 April 2012 |access-date=7 November 2012 |archive-date=13 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013131555/https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2012/01/weodata/co.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Polish People's Republic|Poland]] withdrew in 1950—allegedly pressured by the [[Soviet Union]]—but returned in 1986. The former [[Czechoslovakia]] was expelled in 1954 for "failing to provide required data" and was readmitted in 1990, after the [[Velvet Revolution]].<ref>{{cite web |title=II The IMF and the Transition from Central Planning |url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/history/2012/pdf/c6.pdf |access-date=1 November 2023 |publisher=International Monetary Fund |page=255 |archive-date=19 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119174714/https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/history/2012/pdf/c6.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Apart from Cuba, the other UN states that do not belong to the IMF are [[Monaco]] and [[North Korea]]. [[Liechtenstein]] became the 191st member on 21 October 2024.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vogt |first=Desiree |date=19 October 2024 |title=Ab Montag ist Liechtenstein offiziell IWF-Mitglied |url=https://www.vaterland.li/liechtenstein/politik/ab-montag-ist-liechtenstein-offiziell-iwf-mitglied-art-579704 |access-date=19 October 2024 |work=[[Liechtensteiner Vaterland]] |language=de }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ntow |first=Francis |date=22 October 2024 |title=Liechtenstein becomes 191st IMF member |url=https://gna.org.gh/2024/10/liechtenstein-becomes-191th-imf-member/ |access-date=22 October 2024 |work=[[Ghana News Agency]] }}</ref>

===Qualifications===
Any country may apply to be a part of the IMF. Post-IMF formation, in the early postwar period, rules for IMF membership were left relatively loose. Members needed to make periodic membership payments towards their quota, to refrain from currency restrictions unless granted IMF permission, to abide by the Code of Conduct in the IMF Articles of Agreement, and to provide national economic information. However, stricter rules were imposed on governments that applied to the IMF for funding.<ref name="chorev"/>

The countries that joined the IMF between 1945 and 1971 agreed to keep their exchange rates secured at rates that could be adjusted only to correct a "fundamental disequilibrium" in the balance of payments, and only with the IMF's agreement.<ref>{{cite news |title=What is the IMF? |newspaper=Telegraph |date=12 April 2011 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8443610/What-is-the-IMF.html |access-date=3 July 2020 |archive-date=26 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926075954/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8443610/What-is-the-IMF.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Benefits===
Member countries of the IMF have access to information on the economic policies of all member countries, the opportunity to influence other members' economic policies, [[technical assistance]] in banking, fiscal affairs, and exchange matters, financial support in times of payment difficulties, and increased opportunities for trade and investment.<ref>{{cite web |title=Obligations and Benefits of IMF Membership |work=Money Matters: An IMF Exhibit – The Importance of Global Cooperation |publisher=International Monetary Fund |url=https://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/center/mm/eng/mm_bnfts.htm |access-date=2 December 2018 |archive-date=3 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203055815/https://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/center/mm/eng/mm_bnfts.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>