International Monetary Fund

1956 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-206
Keyword(s):  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
Balance Of Payments ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Executive Directors ◽  
Industrial Countries ◽  
Board Of Governors ◽  
Import Restrictions ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

The Annual Report of the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1955 was transmitted to the Chairman of the Board of Governors on July 1, 1955. The report noted that during the period under review the trend of the previous fiscal year toward the relaxation of restrictions imposed for balance of payments reasons on imports, on currency transfers, and on dealings in foreign exchange had continued, resulting in a considerable improvement in international financial relations. The European industrial countries, in particular, because of a continuance of favorable payments balances had been able to reduce their use of restrictions, and in a few cases practically eliminate them. It was pointed out in the report that even the European countries which had experienced minor setbacks in their balance of payments in 1954 and 1955 had not increased their import restrictions. The report stated that the point had probably been reached at which obstacles to any further removal of import restrictions in Europe were due as much to a wish for protecting individual industries as to payments difficulties. In countries outside Europe, the relaxation of import restrictions was an important factor in the expansion of imports in many primary producing countries in 1954. However, because of the weakening of their reserves, several primary producing countries, especially Australia and Thailand, had to increase their import restrictions in the latter part of 1954. In addition to the reduction in the use of such restrictions, the tendency toward giving more equal treatment to imports from different sources or paid for in different currencies was noted in the report as another encouraging factor in the international financial situation.

International Monetary Fund

1964 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-196 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Balance Of Payments ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Upward Trend ◽  
Executive Board ◽  
Industrial Countries ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Board Of Governors ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

The eighteenth annual report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the fiscal year ending April 30, 1963, was transmitted to the Board of Governors on July 11, 1963, by the Acting Chairman of the Executive Board, Mr. Frank A. Southard, Jr. Summarizing the world payments situation, the report indicated that economic activity continued during 1962 to expand in most industrial countries. Exceptions to this general upward trend were recorded in the United Kingdom and Japan and were seen partly as the result of policies directed toward strengthening the balance of payments. In both 1961 and 1962 the value of world trade was some 5 percent higher than in the preceding year, and in 1962 the increase in the value of exports of primary producing countries as a group almost kept pace with that of the manufacturing countries, although declines in the prices of certain products adversely affected some nations.

International Monetary Fund

1952 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 644-646
Keyword(s):  
Exchange Rates ◽  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Executive Directors ◽  
The Past ◽  
Board Of Governors ◽  
The World ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

The Annual Report of the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1952 was presented to the Board of Governors by its chairman (Rooth) on June 24, 1952. The report indicated that, despite a remarkable growth in production and one widespread adjustment of exchange rates over the previous seven years, international payments were still far from having attained a state of balance and exchange difficulties and restrictions existed again over large parts of the world, for countries constituting a large part of the world had followed policies aimed at achieving higher levels of consumption and investment than could be covered out of real resources available. This had resulted in a situation of inflationary pressures that in certain countries had been aggravated by rearmament programs, pressures which created excessive demands for imports and reduced the quantities of goods available for export. In this situation the use of exchange restrictions and quantitative import controls, frequently of a discriminatory nature, seemed inevitable to many countries; and during the past year there had been a tendency to extend and intensify these restrictions and controls.

International Monetary Fund

1956 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 636-639
Keyword(s):  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Fiscal Policies ◽  
Executive Directors ◽  
Board Of Governors ◽  
The International Monetary Fund ◽  
Relevant Factors

The Annual Report of the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1956 was transmitted to the Chairman of the Board of Governors on June 29, 1956. The world payments situation had improved during the year under review, the report stated; restrictions had been further relaxed, the transferability of important currencies had been extended, and discrimination, especially that resulting from bilateral arrangements, had had less influence on the direction of trade. Progress in extending multilateral trade and payments had thus been maintained, although during the year there had been no addition to the list of Fund members which had established formal convertibility of their currencies. While in general postwar investment programs had brought good returns, inflationary pressures were still strong in a number of countries, the report stated, and they had not always been kept under effective control. The report noted with satisfaction a greater readiness to take corrective or preventive measures, and that the value of flexible monetary and fiscal policies as a major means of achieving and maintaining stability was increasingly recognized. In assessing the future development of the generally encouraging world payments situation, the report cited the following relevant factors which because of their tendency to change from year to year made accurate prediction difficult: 1) the important part played in the international balance of payments by the expenditures abroad of the United States government; 2) the fact that countries whose export trade consisted mainly of primary products were especially subject to variations in export earnings; and 3) the problem of disposing of surpluses of agricultural products.

International Monetary Fund

1959 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 316-320 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Executive Directors ◽  
Money Markets ◽  
Board Of Governors ◽  
Economic Climate ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

The Annual Report of the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1958, was transmitted to the Chairman of the Board of Governors on July 25, 1958. In its discussion of the economic climate of 1957–1958, the report noted that at the beginning of 1957, the world economy was still dominated by boom conditions generated by an intense world-wide wave of private and public investment which was reflected in a large demand for capital. Most of the payments problems that called for treatment during the first three-quarters of the year had their origin in the inflationary methods which were often used to satisfy this demand, and there was a dearth of loanable funds and a growing tension in the money markets. The financial problems that presented themselves in this situation were greatly intensified early in 1957 by the temporary effects of the tensions that arose in connection with the Suez events and, later in the year, by speculative movements against certain European currencies.

International Monetary Fund

1963 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 500-504 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
Current Account ◽  
Balance Of Payments ◽  
Executive Directors ◽  
Board Of Governors ◽  
The International Monetary Fund ◽  
Opening Address ◽  
The Current Account

The seventeenth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was held in Washington, D.C., from September 17 through September 21, 1962, under the chairmanship of Mr. Ahmed Zaki Saad, Governor for Saudi Arabia. In his opening address, Mr. Per Jacobsson, Managing Director of IMF, commented on the relation of the Fund's assistance to capital transactions. He remarked that although the Fund's resources had been used in situations involving capital transfers, there had been some uncertainty as to the extent to which, or the circumstances in which, the Fund's resources could be used for helping to meet those deficits in the balance of payments of members that went beyond the current account and were attributable in whole or in part to capital transfers. By a decision of July 1961 the Executive Directors were able to eliminate any doubt which had not already been dissipated by the practice of the Fund that the Fund's resources could be used to alleviate pressures brought about by capital transfers, in accordance with the criteria of Article VI and other relevant provisions of the Fund Agreement. Thus, if a country facing a disequilibrating outflow of capital were to turn to the Fund for assistance, one of the criteria which the Fund would apply would be to satisfy itself that the appropriate measures were being taken to overcome the balance of payments difficulties, and that the assistance provided by the Fund would be repaid at the earliest opportunity, and in any event not later than three to five years after the drawing.

International Monetary Fund

1964 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 855-859 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Executive Directors ◽  
Executive Board ◽  
Board Of Governors ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

On July 2, 1964, the Chairman of the Executive Board, Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, transmitted to the Board of Governors the nineteenth annual report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Directors for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1964.

Pressures to adjust balance of payments disequilibria: an analysis of the powers of the International Monetary Fund

1976 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frieder Roessler
Keyword(s):  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
Balance Of Payments ◽  
Executive Directors ◽  
Financial Pressure ◽  
New Instruments ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

In view of recent proposals to grant the International Monetary Fund new instruments to press countries to adjust balance of payments disequilibria, the question arises of the efficacy of such means of pressure. An analysis of the Fund's power shows, inter alia, that conditions attached to currency purchases by deficit countries can only influence the techniques of adjustment but not the length of the adjustment period, that it is normally not possible for the Fund to expose individual surplus countries to inflationary or expansionary pressures, that the scarce currency clause is unworkable in present monetary conditions, and that the Fund's system of charges and remunerations cannot be used to exert financial pressure on countries in imbalance. The general avoidance of sanctions by the Fund's Executive Directors suggests that it would only be useful to make additional pressures available to the Fund, as contemplated by the Committee of Twenty, if the authority to take decisions on sanctions were transferred to a separate judicial or quasi-judicial body.

International Monetary Fund

1954 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-582
Keyword(s):  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
Balance Of Payments ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Monetary Policies ◽  
Board Of Governors ◽  
Domestic Capital ◽  
General Improvement ◽  
High Level

The Annual Report of the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1954, was transmitted to the Chairman of the Board of Governors on July 1, 1954. During the period under review, the report noted, important steps toward currency convertibility had been taken in several countries, notably Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom; restrictions on dollar imports had been lightened, exports of domestic capital had been freer, and more reliance had been placed on the regulative powers of the price mechanism. The easing of restrictions had gone hand in hand with an improvement in the world balance of payments equilibrium, and a reversal, during 1953, of the downward trend in the volume of world trade which had appeared early in 1952. Sound fiscal and monetary policies had improved the competitive position of Europe which had experienced more stable prices and less inflationary pressure; the report cautioned that the coincidence, up to mid-1953, of a high level of business activity in the United States with slack demand conditions in western Europe had been a purely fortuitous aid in improving the latter's balance of payments position. Progress toward convertibility had been made possible by a general improvement in economic conditions; however, problems would be involved in taking further steps toward convertibility. Among these were: 1) the problem of controlling international movements of capital, and 2) the importance of having countries whose balance of payments position was weak, as well as those with a stronger position, move concurrently towards convertibility.

International Monetary Fund

1964 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 616-621 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
New Members ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Board Of Governors ◽  
Congo Brazzaville ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

The Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held its eighteenth annual meeting in Washington, D.C., from September 30 through October 4, 1963, under the chairmanship of Mr. Emilio Colombo, Governor for Italy. Introducing the annual report, Mr. Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, the new Chairman of the Executive Board and Managing Director of the Fund, welcomed the governors of the twenty member countries which had joined the Fund since the last annual meeting: Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Leopoldville), Dahomey, Gabon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, and Upper Volta. With the addition of these new members the Fund had a total membership of 102. Mr. Schweitzer commented that in the fiscal year ended in April 1963 eighteen countries had purchased the equivalent of $580 million from the Fund and the equivalent of $807 million had been received in repurchases. Both purchases and repurchases were less than in the previous fiscal year when the United Kingdom had made a very large drawing. The Fund had also made stand-by arrangements with twenty countries under which $1.8 billion was available, including the recently renewed stand-by arrangement of $1.0 billion with the United Kingdom and the $500 million stand-by arrangement with the United States.

International Monetary Fund

1953 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 576-583
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Monetary Fund ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Korean War ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Executive Directors ◽  
Board Of Governors ◽  
The Korean War

The annual report of the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund for the fiscal year ending April 30, 1953, was transmitted to the Chairman of the Board of Governors on July 1, 1953. By the beginning of 1953, the report noted, the foreign exchange imbalance and the internal inflationary pressures, which had been engendered by the outbreak of the Korean war and the subsequent speculative inflationary boom, were being successfully combatted in most countries. The widespread payments crisis of early 1952 had affected the raw materials producing countries most severely; falling raw materials prices, resulting in reduced income, had been coupled with increased demands for imports, resulting from higher domestic incomes and the requirements of development projects. Export countries, especially those which relied on raw materials producers for dollar earnings, were also affected by the price fluctuations. Measures adopted in the various affected countries to combat the payments imbalances and the reduction of excessive inventories led to a sharp contraction in the volume of world trade in 1952; by the third quarter, the value of world imports was 10 percent less than the previous year. The United States did not contribute markedly to this decline; in fact, for the year as a whole the volume of United States imports was 5 percent greater than in 1951, although this was primarily due to a great increase in the last quarter of the year. Declines in the volume and value of world trade, it was feared, might lead to further progressive deterioration; however, by the beginning of 1953, the greater part of the distortions initiated by the outbreak of Korean hostilities had been eliminated.

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