In order to stabilize the post-war international monetary and financial system, according to the Bretton Woods Agreement, as a specialized agency of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund was established in March 1947.

The fund of the International Monetary Fund comes from the fund shares paid by member countries. The number of shares determines the voting rights of member countries in the IMF, as well as the amount of foreign exchange loans and special drawing rights (accounting units issued by the International Monetary Fund) that can be allocated. Because the United States pays the largest share, accounting for more than 20% of the total share, with more than 20% of the voting rights, occupying a dominant position. Another source of IMF funds is loans provided by ten western developed countries (also known as the Group of Ten). 196 1 year, the IMF and the G-10 reached a "general loan arrangement" to borrow from these ten countries as loans to member countries.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides two kinds of fund use rights for member countries. One is the general drawing right, that is, member countries apply to the IMF to purchase foreign exchange in their own currencies in proportion to their shares; The second is the special drawing right, which was established by the IMF in 1969 as a supplement to the original drawing right. It is distributed according to the share of member countries. The allocated SDR can be converted into foreign exchange through the organization as an international reserve. It can also be used for official settlement or convertible foreign exchange with other member countries. It can also pay the balance of payments deficit and repay IMF loans, but it cannot be directly used for trade and non-trade payments.

Since its establishment, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has provided loans to adjust the temporary imbalance of international payments of member countries and help them solve the short-term demand for foreign exchange funds. This has played a positive role in improving the balance of payments of member countries and stabilizing their exchange rates. In addition, it is also the main consultation place for international monetary and financial issues and the institution that provides technical assistance in monetary and financial aspects, and solves international monetary and financial issues through various meetings.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an institution with close business relations with GATT. In the past multilateral trade negotiations of GATT, when it came to non-tariff measures, it mainly relied on the participation and cooperation of the International Monetary Fund, including negotiations on monetary and financial issues, exchange rates and external payments.