The IMF governance debate goes beyond the mathematics of voting shares and representation, bringing to the fore critical questions about the Fund's legitimacy.
The legitimacy of IMF engagement with Middle East and North African nations and eurozone crisis countries continues to be heavily criticised.
Large middle-income countries jointly initiated alternatives to the World Bank and IMF in March, but advocates are not satisfied with either set of institutions. While challenge to the IMF has been welcomed, civil society actors fear that a new development bank would serve "vested interests" and could lead to "exploitation".
The G20's agenda on the international financial architecture looks to tackle sovereign defaults, but not 'currency wars'.
While the IMF-supported banking sector restructuring in Cyprus includes a strict set of restrictions on capital movements, the World Bank and IMF are failing to embrace a more pragmatic approach to capital account regulation.
The second external evaluation of the IMF's Independent Evaluation Office (IEO), discussed by the IMF board end March, evaluated how well the IEO has met its institutional mandate since 2006.
French police searched the Paris apartment of IMF managing director Christine Lagarde in late March as part of an investigation over the way Lagarde, as French minister of finance, handled the compensation settlement of French millionaire Bernard Tapie.
The economic crisis in Cyprus erupted during the second cycle of the European recession of 2011 as a result of harsh austerity policies imposed since 2010 in Europe. It is a new crisis born of a failed response to the original European crisis.
This page outlines the structure of the UK government's interaction with the World Bank and the IMF. It provides contact information for the appropriate staff at the Department for International Development and HM Treasury who deal with the Bretton Woods institutions
Jamaica is close to agreeing a new IMF programme despite a recent record of disputes.
After missing the October deadline to approve the governance reforms agreed in 2010, IMF shareholders have also missed the January 2013 deadline to agree changes in the IMF quota formula.
Pakistan must radically change its economic strategy, and raise Rupees 360 billion ($3.67 billion), 1.5 per cent of its GDP, before the Fund will agree to a new programme.
At the 80th anniversary of the World Bank and IMF, global civil society must maintain pressure on the Brazilian and South African G20 presidencies to ensure the forth Financing for Development Conference in 2025 results in urgently required international financial architecture reform.
