The IMF was established in 1944 as part of the Bretton Woods agreement. Originally, it was conceived as the monetary arm of the UN, an agency. It encompassed 29 countries but excluded the losers in World War II, Germany and Japan. The exclusion of the losers in the Cold war from the WTO is reminiscent of what happened then: in both cases, the USA called the shots and dictated the composition of the membership of international organization in accordance with its predilections. Today, the IMF numbers 182 member-countries and boasts "equity" (own financial means) of 200 billion USD (measured by Special Drawing Rights, SDR, pegged at 1.35 USD each). It employs 2600 workers from 110 countries. It is truly international. The IMF has a few statutory purposes. They are splashed across its Statute and its official publications. The criticism relates to the implementation - not to the noble goals. It also relates to turf occupied by the IMF without any mandate to do so. The IMF is supposed to: A. Promote international monetary cooperation; B. Expand international trade (a role which reverted now to the WTO); C. Establish a multilateral system of payments; D. Assist countries with Balance of Payments (BOP) difficulties under adequate safeguards; E. Lessen the duration and the degree of disequilibrium in the international BOPS of member countries; F. Promote exchange rate stability, the signing of orderly exchange agreements and the avoidance of competitive exchange depreciation. The IMF tries to juggle all these goals in the thinning air of the global capital markets. It does so through three types of activities: Surveillance The IMF regularly monitors exchange rate policies, the general economic situation and other economic policies. It does so through the (to some countries, ominous) mechanism of "consultation" (with the countries' monetary and fiscal authorities). The famed (and dreaded) World Economic Outlook (WEO) report amalgamates the individual country results into a coherent picture of multilateral surveillance. Sometimes, countries, which have no on-going interaction with the IMF and do not use its assistance do ask it to intervene, at least by way of grading and evaluating their economies. The last decade saw the transformation of the IMF into an unofficial (and, incidentally, non-mandated) country credit rating agency. Its stamp of approval can mean the difference between the availability of credits to a given country - or its absence. At best, a bad review by the IMF imposes financial penalties on the delinquent country in the form of higher interest rates and charges payable on its international borrowings.