The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the international organization that oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries, in particular those with an impact on exchange rate and the balance of payments. It is an organization formed with a stated objective of stabilizing international exchange rates and facilitating development. It also offers highly leveraged loans, mainly to poorer countries. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C., United States.

Funding of the IMF is comprised of commitments from 188 countries. The United States now supplies $27 billion of funds to the IMF, by far the largest commitment, more than double that of the next country, Japan. At an annual cost to the taxpayer of $1.9 billion--an expenditure conspicuous by its absence in the Federal budget and a hidden element in our deficit and debt--that amounts to a little more than 17% of the total funding of the IMF.

Just as a matter of comparison, our funding of the IMF is just about equal to the total foreign aid given by the U.S. each year.

Major decisions by the IMF require an 85% supermajority of it's member countries, based on voting rights proportional to each country's funding of the IMF. The United States has always been the only country able to block a supermajority on its own. Obviously, the U.S. uses the leverage of it's effective control of the IMF to strengthen it's position in foreign affairs.

China has been trying for years to increase it's contributions to the IMF in order to increase its voting control and expand it's influence in international finance and world affairs. In September 2005, the IMF's member countries agreed to the first round of quota increases for four countries, including China. But even now, China's voting influence in the IMF is still the smaller than any of the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States), thereby limiting its influence. China has thus far been excluded from membership in the G7.