The International Money Fund was created to centralize the management of the global monetary system. As markets opened, the richer countries turned to other, more flexible sources of finance and IMF lending became almost exclusively focused on the developing world. In the 1980s, shareholding countries restricted the activity of the Fund. A policy of reduced net lending was implemented, yet the IMF came under increasing fire for its handling of the escalating debt crisis.

Without the IMF, the finance needs of developing countries in the 1990s are unlikely to be met. Yet, this book argues, to have a future itself, the IMF must reassess its own borrowing.