IMF

The IMF, also known as the Fund, was conceived at a UN conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, in July 1944. The 44 countries at that conference sought to build a framework for economic cooperation to avoid a repetition of the competitive devaluations that had contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The IMF's primary purpose is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system—the system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries (and their citizens) to transact with each other. The Fund's mandate was updated in 2012 to include all macroeconomic and financial sector issues that bear on global stability.
  
Original aims:

• promote international monetary cooperation;
• facilitate the expansion and balanced growth of international trade;
• promote exchange stability;
• assist in the establishment of a multilateral system of payments; and
• make resources available (with adequate safeguards) to members experiencing balance of payments difficulties.

• Membership: 189 countries
• Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
• Executive Board: 24 Directors each representing a single country or a group of countries
• Staff: Approximately 2,700 from 148 countries