Today, the IMF is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and staffed by a team of more than 2,500 people from nearly 140 countries. At the helm is the Board of Governors, composed of banking leaders and ministers of finance from each member country. The Board of Governors comes together once a year at the IMF-World Bank meeting, but much of the substantial operations are carried out by the twenty-four Executive Directors of the Executive Board. The Managing Director of the IMF serves as Chairman of the Executive Board. Corresponding to each Executive Director is one Governor from the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC). This committee meets twice a year to advise the IMF on issues related to the international monetary system.
In advance of the IMF’s spring meeting (which has just concluded in Washington) France and the United Kingdom rejected any political reform(1). It is true that the fund’s proposals are feeble. It is true that even after far more ambitious reforms the IMF would remain the wrong body, constitutionally destined to fail. But this is not why our government is holding out. It is resisting change because it wants to preserve its imperial rank.
