Occurring in the 1930s, the Great Depression resulted in countries trying to give a boost to their own economies by increasing barriers to international trade. Countries devalued their currencies to compete as far as the international arena was concerned, restricting the buying power of their people in order to be able to have foreign exchange. These changes led to assistance of world trade, standard of living, and employment opportunities to lessen drastically all over the globe.

This complete failure of the world led the founders of IMF to organise a body that has the right to oversee the International Monetary System. This system has the right to lend money to countries to help them overcome their debt; they facilitate countries by helping their citizens to buy goods, and services from each other by exporting them. This body makes sure that the countries are managing their exchange rates effectively, and it encourages its members to do away with exchange rate restrictions that obstruct international trade.

The IMF was conceived in July of 1944, where people from forty-five countries met up. They believed that it was necessary to come together in order to avoid another relapse of the Great Depression. The IMF was officially formed in December 1945, when twenty-nine countries signed the Articles of Agreement. It was fully functional in March 1, 1947. Later the same year, France was the first country to borrow money from this body. The IMF membership has expanded ever since; many African countries that became independent also wanted to become its members.

Today, the IMF has almost a global membership with 186 countries, as its members. To become a member, a country has to apply to the IMF, and then be accepted by a majority of the members. The last member to join the IMF was in 2009 when Yugoslav became the 186th member.

A country has to follow specific rules as soon as it becomes a member. They are assigned a quota, which outlines the financial and organisational interaction between the IMF, and that particular country. It consists of the subscription, voting power, access to power, and SDR allocations.

The subscriptions show the maximum amount of financial capital for which the member is indebted. The quota also determines the voting power of the members within the organisation. Each IMF member has 250 votes, and another vote for each SDR 100,000 of quota. Access to financing informs the member about the total amount that they can borrow from the IMF. The SDR allocations are utilised in the IMF unit of account, as a reserve asset. It is calculated based on the quota.

Now the IMF is assisting the surfacing market nations to rise. It is lending aid to the low-income countries, and is offering advice regarding management of their bank systems as well as their exchange rate systems. Advice is offered on how to design efficient and effective stimulus packages. The IMF has already increased their financial assistance to low income countries, by doubling it.

As the global economy is advancing towards another peak in 2009, where struggles are now rising, the IMF has already arranged to add to its resources, and borrow from countries. The agreements are already in line with Japan, $100 billion, Canada, $10 billion, and Norway $4.5 billion. Quite a few other countries have also made their commitments, either through loans or through purchases of IMF notes.

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