International Monetary Fund

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is based in Washington, DC, and as of March 2017 counts 189 countries among its members. The IMF is tasked with managing the world’s monetary systems and, relatedly, promoting inter national financial stability and monetary cooperation among countries. Within these tasks, sustainable economic growth, promoting international trade, and poverty alleviation are some of the other stated goals. The IMF issues loans to help countries suffering from economic hardship. However, the IMF has faced strong criticism in relation to this because of the conditions placed on such loans—the policies or actions a country has to pursue in return for the loan. Surveillance is one of the IMF’s core functions as part of working toward the aforementioned aims, with the IMF watching ...