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