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66-605: With the entry into force of its Charter on 1 May 1999, BSEC acquired international legal identity and was transformed into a full-fledged regional economic organization: Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation . With the accession of Serbia (then Serbia and Montenegro) in April 2004, the Organization’s Member States increased to twelve. North Macedonia's accession in 2020 increased

132-434: A January 2014 report entitled "Fiscal Policy and Income Inequality" that stated that "Some taxes levied on wealth, especially on immovable property, are also an option for economies seeking more progressive taxation ... Property taxes are equitable and efficient, but underutilized in many economies ... There is considerable scope to exploit this tax more fully, both as a revenue source and as a redistributive instrument." At

198-483: A broader focus of promoting market-liberalizing reforms through structural adjustment programs. This shift occurred without a formal renegotiation of the organization's charter or operational guidelines. The Ronald Reagan administration , in particular Treasury Secretary James Baker , his assistant secretary David Mulford and deputy assistant secretary Charles Dallara , pressured the IMF to attach market-liberal reforms to

264-599: A leading supporter of exchange-rate stability . Its stated mission is "working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade , promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world." Established in July of 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference , primarily according to the ideas of Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes , it started with 29 member countries and

330-487: A position of oversight of only exchange rates, their function became one of surveillance of the overall macroeconomic performance of member countries. Their role became a lot more active because the IMF now manages economic policy rather than just exchange rates. In addition, the IMF negotiates conditions on lending and loans under their policy of conditionality , which was established in the 1950s. Low-income countries can borrow on concessional terms , which means there

396-544: A related body of BSEC at the same time. It was established in 1998. The BSEC Coordination Center for the Exchange of Statistical Data and Economic Information was established with the aim to collect statistical and economic information, accomplish secretarial functions, coordinate obtained data and share it with member countries. Member states are cooperating on different issues within the Working Groups. They are

462-444: A think-tank and consulting agency is intended to provide citizens with a basis for political action through the research and analyses of current political trends. The KAS offers more than 2,500 conferences and events each year worldwide, and actively supports the political involvement and education of intellectually gifted youth through a prestigious scholarship program as well as an ongoing comprehensive seminar program. Along with

528-503: A year and is responsible for electing or appointing an executive director to the executive board. While the board of governors is officially responsible for approving quota increases, special drawing right allocations, the admittance of new members, compulsory withdrawal of members, and amendments to the Articles of Agreement and By-Laws, in practice it has delegated most of its powers to the IMF's executive board. The board of governors

594-933: Is a period of time with no interest rates, through the Extended Credit Facility (ECF), the Standby Credit Facility (SCF) and the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF). Non-concessional loans, which include interest rates, are provided mainly through the Stand-By Arrangements (SBA), the Flexible Credit Line (FCL), the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL), and the Extended Fund Facility. The IMF provides emergency assistance via

660-625: Is based in Istanbul. The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution that was formed 24 January 1997. It supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing trade and project financing, guarantees, and equity for development projects supporting both public and private enterprises in its member countries. Objectives of the bank include promoting regional trade links, cross country projects, foreign direct investment, supporting activities that contribute to sustainable development, with an emphasis on

726-441: Is that private international capital markets function imperfectly and many countries have limited access to financial markets. Such market imperfections, together with balance-of-payments financing, provide the justification for official financing, without which many countries could only correct large external payment imbalances through measures with adverse economic consequences. The IMF provides alternate sources of financing such as

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792-520: The COVID-19 pandemic . This was in addition to the $ 50 billion fund it had announced two weeks earlier, of which $ 5 billion had already been requested by Iran . One day earlier on 11 March, the UK called to pledge £150 million to the IMF catastrophe relief fund. It came to light on 27 March that "more than 80 poor and middle-income countries" had sought a bailout due to the coronavirus. On 13 April 2020,

858-793: The Cold War limited the Fund's membership, with most countries in the Soviet sphere of influence not joining until 1970s and 1980s. The Bretton Woods exchange rate system prevailed until 1971 when the United States government suspended the convertibility of the US$ (and dollar reserves held by other governments) into gold. This is known as the Nixon Shock . The changes to the IMF articles of agreement reflecting these changes were ratified in 1976 by

924-632: The Great Depression , countries sharply raised barriers to trade in an attempt to improve their failing economies. This led to the devaluation of national currencies and a decline in world trade. This breakdown in international monetary cooperation created a need for oversight. The representatives of 45 governments met at the Bretton Woods Conference in the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire , in

990-549: The International Monetary Fund and others, the BSTDB does not attach policy conditions by which debtor states can be controlled. The Bank has a long term credit rating of 'A' from Moody's Investors Service and an 'A3' from Standard & Poor's , both with a stable outlook. The International Center for Black Sea Studies is an independent think tank focused on the wider Black Sea region, which serves as

1056-494: The Jamaica Accords . Later in the 1970s, large commercial banks began lending to states because they were awash in cash deposited by oil exporters. The lending of the so-called money center banks led to the IMF changing its role in the 1980s after a world recession provoked a crisis that brought the IMF back into global financial governance. In the mid-1980s, the IMF shifted its narrow focus from currency stabilization to

1122-562: The Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility . Upon the founding of the IMF, its three primary functions were: The IMF's role was fundamentally altered by the floating exchange rates after 1971. It shifted to examining the economic policies of countries with IMF loan agreements to determine whether a shortage of capital was due to economic fluctuations or economic policy. The IMF also researched what types of government policy would ensure economic recovery. A particular concern of

1188-548: The Society for Christian Democratic Education , which would be renamed after Chancellor Konrad Adenauer on 13 October 1964, was opened in Bonn. The aim of the foundation's civic education programs is, according to their official website, the "promotion of freedom and liberty, peace, and justice" through "furthering European unification, improving transatlantic relations, and deepening development cooperation". Their function as

1254-830: The Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS). The executive board approved the SDDS and GDDS in 1996 and 1997, respectively, and subsequent amendments were published in a revised Guide to the General Data Dissemination System . The system is aimed primarily at statisticians and aims to improve many aspects of statistical systems in a country. It is also part of the World Bank Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and Poverty Reduction Strategic Papers (PRSPs) . The primary objective of

1320-458: The first Greek bailout that totaled €110 billion, to address the great accumulation of public debt, caused by continuing large public sector deficits. As part of the bailout, the Greek government agreed to adopt austerity measures that would reduce the deficit from 11% in 2009 to "well below 3%" in 2014. The bailout did not include debt restructuring measures such as a haircut , to the chagrin of

1386-415: The 1930s . The IMF formally came into existence on 27 December 1945, when the first 29 countries ratified its Articles of Agreement. By the end of 1946 the IMF had grown to 39 members. On 1 March 1947, the IMF began its financial operations, and on 8 May France became the first country to borrow from it. The IMF was one of the key organizations of the international economic system; its design allowed

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1452-428: The 1940s and 1950s, and the recruitment of staff exposed to new thinking in economics. The IMF provided two major lending packages in the early 2000s to Argentina (during the 1998–2002 Argentine great depression ) and Uruguay (after the 2002 Uruguay banking crisis ). However, by the mid-2000s, IMF lending was at its lowest share of world GDP since the 1970s. In May 2010, the IMF participated, in 3:11 proportion, in

1518-629: The Black Sea, though the last two are connected through the Danube river corridor and Greece through the two sea straits. North Macedonia 's application was vetoed by Greece after Turkey vetoed the previous application of the Republic of Cyprus , prompting Greece to cease to approve future applications from any country. However, North Macedonia was admitted into the bloc on 9 November 2020. Related bodies of BSEC carry out their functions due respect to

1584-607: The Center for Studies in Social Sciences Research (CERSS) in Morocco terminated its partnership with KAS due to a politics-based disagreement. The establishment of a "systematic civic-education program inspired by Christian democratic values" began being considered in 1952 by a group of CDU politicians including Bundestag president Hermann Ehlers , Robert Tillmanns , and Heinrich Krone . On 20 December 1955,

1650-524: 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. 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

1716-467: The GDDS is to encourage member countries to build a framework to improve data quality and statistical capacity building to evaluate statistical needs, set priorities in improving timeliness, transparency , reliability, and accessibility of financial and economic data. Some countries initially used the GDDS, but later upgraded to SDDS. Some entities that are not IMF members also contribute statistical data to

1782-774: The Heads of States or by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs. Main bodies of PABSEC are General Assembly, Standing Committee, the Bureau, Committees, the President, the Secretary General, and the International Secretariat.The Assembly is composed of 76 members. English , French , Russian and Turkish are the working languages of PABSEC. The President of PABSEC is Archil Talakvadze from Georgia ,

1848-523: The IMF in 1980 after losing the support of the then United States President Jimmy Carter and was replaced by the People's Republic of China . However, "Taiwan Province of China" is still listed in the official IMF indices. 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

1914-425: The IMF is part, are joint managers of this programme, which was approved by the executive directors of the IMF on 15 March 2012 for XDR 23.8 billion and saw private bondholders take a haircut of upwards of 50%. In the interval between May 2010 and February 2012 the private banks of Holland, France, and Germany reduced exposure to Greek debt from €122 billion to €66 billion. As of January 2012 ,

1980-564: The IMF said that it "would provide immediate debt relief to 25 member countries under its Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT)" programme. 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. 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

2046-537: The IMF was to prevent financial crises, such as those in Mexico in 1982, Brazil in 1987, the 1997 Asian financial crisis , and the 1998 Russian financial crisis , from spreading and threatening the entire global financial and currency system. The challenge was to promote and implement a policy that reduced the frequency of crises among emerging market countries, especially the middle-income countries which are vulnerable to massive capital outflows. Rather than maintaining

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2112-551: The IMF's agreement. 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. The board of governors consists of one governor and one alternate governor for each member country. Each member country appoints its two governors. The Board normally meets once

2178-734: The KAS has 78 offices and runs programs in over 100 countries. Its current chairman is the former president of the German parliament Deutscher Bundestag , Norbert Lammert . It is a member of the Martens Centre , the official foundation and think tank of the European People's Party (EPP). In 2020, it ranked 15th amongst think tanks globally. In summer 2024, the foundation was designated as " undesirable " in Russia. In November 2024,

2244-489: The Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to members facing urgent balance-of-payments needs. The IMF is mandated to oversee the international monetary and financial system and monitor the economic and financial policies of its member countries. Accurate estimations require a degree of participatory surveillance. Market sizes and economic facts are estimated using member-state data, shared and verifiable by

2310-486: The Swiss, Brazilian, Indian, Russian, and Argentinian Directors of the IMF, with the Greek authorities themselves (at the time, PM George Papandreou and Finance Minister Giorgos Papakonstantinou ) ruling out a haircut. A second bailout package of more than €100 billion was agreed upon over the course of a few months from October 2011, during which time Papandreou was forced from office. The so-called Troika , of which

2376-405: The United States, to discuss a framework for postwar international economic cooperation and how to rebuild Europe. There were two views on the role the IMF should assume as a global economic institution. American delegate Harry Dexter White foresaw an IMF that functioned more like a bank, making sure that borrowing states could repay their debts on time. Most of White's plan was incorporated into

2442-477: The Vice-President is Anush Beghloyan from Armenia . The Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization Business Council was formed in 1992 as an international, non-governmental and non-profit organization to strengthen the improvement of the business environment within Black Sea region. Business Council represents the business communities of member states. The International Secretariat of Business Council

2508-453: The chief economist, was appointed as first deputy managing director, effective 21 January 2022. Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas was appointed chief economist on 24 January 2022. According to the IMF itself, it works to foster global growth and economic stability by providing policy advice and financing to its members. It also works with developing countries to help them achieve macroeconomic stability and reduce poverty. The rationale for this

2574-420: The consequences of these policies for other countries and for the global economy . For instance, The IMF played a significant role in individual countries, such as Armenia and Belarus, in providing financial support to achieve stabilization financing from 2009 to 2019. The maximum sustainable debt level of a polity, which is watched closely by the IMF, was defined in 2011 by IMF economists to be 120%. Indeed, it

2640-452: The country will be able to rectify its macroeconomic and structural imbalances. In the judgment of the IMF, the adoption by the member of certain corrective measures or policies will allow it to repay the IMF, thereby ensuring that the resources will be available to support other members. As of 2004 , borrowing countries have had a good track record for repaying credit extended under the IMF's regular lending facilities with full interest over

2706-418: The detriment of others because they do not bear the full consequences of their actions—is mitigated through conditions rather than providing collateral; countries in need of IMF loans do not generally possess internationally valuable collateral anyway. Conditionality also reassures the IMF that the funds lent to them will be used for the purposes defined by the Articles of Agreement and provides safeguards that

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2772-438: The duration of the loan. This indicates that IMF lending does not impose a burden on creditor countries, as lending countries receive market-rate interest on most of their quota subscription, plus any of their own-currency subscriptions that are loaned out by the IMF, plus all of the reserve assets that they provide the IMF. The IMF was originally laid out as a part of the Bretton Woods system exchange agreement in 1944. During

2838-399: The economies of its member countries by its use of the fund, as well as other activities such as gathering and analyzing economic statistics and surveillance of its members' economies. The current managing director (MD) and chairperson of the IMF is Bulgarian economist Kristalina Georgieva , who has held the post since 1 October 2019. Indian-American economist Gita Gopinath , previously

2904-565: The end of March 2014, the IMF secured an $ 18 billion bailout fund for the provisional government of Ukraine in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity . In late 2019, the IMF estimated global growth in 2020 to reach 3.4%, but due to the coronavirus, in November 2020, it expected the global economy to shrink by 4.4%. In March 2020, Kristalina Georgieva announced that the IMF stood ready to mobilize $ 1 trillion as its response to

2970-455: The final acts adopted at Bretton Woods. British economist John Maynard Keynes , on the other hand, imagined that the IMF would be a cooperative fund upon which member states could draw to maintain economic activity and employment through periodic crises. This view suggested an IMF that helped governments and act as the United States government had during the New Deal to the great depression of

3036-701: The following: The functions of Working Groups, of which country coordinators have not been appointed yet, are performed temporarily by the PERMIS . Konrad Adenauer Foundation Defunct Defunct The Konrad Adenauer Foundation ( German : Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , KAS ) is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's headquarters are located in Sankt Augustin near Bonn , as well as in Berlin. Globally,

3102-422: The form of policy reform. If the conditions are not met, the funds are withheld. The concept of conditionality was introduced in a 1952 executive board decision and later incorporated into the Articles of Agreement. Conditionality is associated with economic theory as well as an enforcement mechanism for repayment. Stemming primarily from the work of Jacques Polak , the theoretical underpinning of conditionality

3168-595: The generation of employment in the member countries, ensuring that each operation is economically and financially sound and contributes to the development of a market orientation. The organization has an authorized capital of $ 1.325 billion. The bank's headquarters are located in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB is governed by the Agreement Establishing Black Sea Trade and Development Bank , a United Nations registered treaty. Unlike

3234-498: The goal of reconstructing the international monetary system after World War II . In its early years, the IMF primarily focused on facilitating fixed exchange rates across the developed world. It now plays a central role in the management of balance of payments difficulties and international financial crises. Through a quota system, countries contribute funds to a pool from which countries can borrow if they experience balance of payments problems. The IMF works to stabilize and foster

3300-599: The headquarters in Sankt Augustin and Berlin , the KAS operates two educational centers, sixteen training centers, an Academy, and an international conference center. The KAS consists of six departments: Former president of the Bundestag Norbert Lammert is the current president of the KAS. He is joined on the board of directors by 24 other individuals. The KAS currently has 55 members, many of whom are current and former CDU politicians. The board of trustees has 24 members who assist and supervise

3366-544: The largest borrowers from the IMF in order were Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Romania, and Ukraine. On 25 March 2013, a €10 billion international bailout of Cyprus was agreed by the Troika , at the cost to the Cypriots of its agreement: to close the country's second-largest bank ; to impose a one-time bank deposit levy on Bank of Cyprus uninsured deposits. No insured deposit of €100k or less were to be affected under

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3432-559: The legal form of a foundation for support and public relations purposes. The other foundations are: International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) is a major financial agency of the United Nations , and an international financial institution funded by 190 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of last resort to national governments, and

3498-428: The organization's conditional loans. During the 20th century, the IMF shifted its position on capital controls. Whereas the IMF permitted capital controls at its founding and throughout the 1970s, IMF staff increasingly favored free capital movement from 1980s onwards. This shift happened in the aftermath of an emerging consensus in economics on the desirability of free capital movement, retirement of IMF staff hired in

3564-552: The organization's membership to thirteen. An important aspect of the activities of BSEC is the development of SME and entrepreneurship in the member countries. Concerning these issues, a series of workshops have been organized in cooperation with Konrad Adenauer Foundation and ERENET . As seen above, membership has not been restricted to countries which have access to the Black Sea : Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Greece, North Macedonia, Moldova, and Serbia do not have coastlines on

3630-491: The organization's other member-states. This transparency is intended to facilitate international co-operation and trade. Since the demise of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates in the early 1970s, surveillance has evolved largely by way of changes in procedures rather than through the adoption of new obligations. The Fund typically analyses the appropriateness of each member country's economic and financial policies for achieving orderly economic growth, and assesses

3696-467: The preamble of the PABSEC Rules and Procedures: insure the understanding and adoption of the ideas and objectives of BSEC; provide a legal basis for social, economic, cultural, commercial and political cooperation among the member states; provide support to the national parliaments to reinforce the parliamentary democracy; pass the legislation required for the implementation of the decisions adopted by

3762-978: The principles of BSEC defined in the Summit Declaration of 25 June 1992 and in the Charter. They have their own budget. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation based in Istanbul, is the inter-parliamentary consultative institution of the organization formed based on the Declaration on the Establishment of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation on February 26, 1993 by 9 founding states. Greece joined PABSEC in 1995, Bulgaria joined in 1997, and Serbia (former Serbia and Montenegro ) joined in 2004. Representatives of Parliaments of member countries pursue objectives which are stated in

3828-409: The sovereignty of full UN member states, such as Aruba , Curaçao , Hong Kong , and Macao , as well as Kosovo . The corporate members appoint ex-officio voting members, who are listed below . All members of the IMF are also International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) members and vice versa. Former members are Cuba (which left in 1964), and Taiwan , which was ejected from

3894-416: The system to balance the rebuilding of international capitalism with the maximization of national economic sovereignty and human welfare, also known as embedded liberalism . The IMF's influence in the global economy steadily increased as it accumulated more members. Its membership began to expand in the late 1950s and during the 1960s as many African countries became independent and applied for membership. But

3960-455: The systems: A 2021 study found that the IMF's surveillance activities have "a substantial impact on sovereign debt with much greater impacts in emerging than high-income economies". IMF conditionality is a set of policies or conditions that the IMF requires in exchange for financial resources. The IMF does require collateral from countries for loans but also requires the government seeking assistance to correct its macroeconomic imbalances in

4026-545: The terms of a novel bail-in scheme. The topic of sovereign debt restructuring was taken up by the IMF in April 2013, for the first time since 2005, in a report entitled "Sovereign Debt Restructuring: Recent Developments and Implications for the Fund's Legal and Policy Framework". The paper, which was discussed by the board on 20 May, summarised the recent experiences in Greece, St Kitts and Nevis, Belize, and Jamaica. An explanatory interview with deputy director Hugh Bredenkamp

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4092-558: The work of the KAS. Similar to other German political foundations, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation is largely financed by federal and land government funds. 96.8% of the foundation's €120 million budget in 2009 was therefore provided by public funding, while 2.7% was derived from admission charges and miscellaneous revenues, and 0.5% came from private funds and donations. The other parties in Germany also use

4158-608: Was at this number that the Greek government-debt crisis started in 2010. In 1995, the International Monetary Fund began to work on data dissemination standards with the view of guiding IMF member countries to disseminate their economic and financial data to the public. The International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) endorsed the guidelines for the dissemination standards and they were split into two tiers: The General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) and

4224-488: Was published a few days later, as was a deconstruction by Matina Stevis of The Wall Street Journal . In the October 2013, Fiscal Monitor publication, the IMF suggested that a capital levy capable of reducing Euro-area government debt ratios to "end-2007 levels" would require a very high tax rate of about 10%. The Fiscal Affairs department of the IMF, headed at the time by Acting Director Sanjeev Gupta, produced

4290-590: Was readmitted in 1990, after the Velvet Revolution . 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. 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

4356-584: Was the "monetary approach to the balance of payments". Some of the conditions for structural adjustment can include: These conditions are known as the Washington Consensus . These loan conditions ensure that the borrowing country will be able to repay the IMF and that the country will not attempt to solve their balance-of-payment problems in a way that would negatively impact the international economy . The incentive problem of moral hazard —when economic agents maximise their own utility to

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