The IMF was set up in 1944 by a group of 40 nations with the aim of avoiding the kind of competitive devaluations and collapse of currencies which marked the pre-war Depression years. Ireland joined in the 1960s.

It now has 182 members which make some of their reserves available to the IMF on a quota system. Interest is charged on IMF loans which are then paid to donor countries. Ireland has never had to borrow, but it was close to it in the 1980s recession.

The IMF board of governors with one from each country usually the Minister for Finance is the ultimate authority but the decision-making body is the 24-member executive board with votes weighted according to size. The US has 18 per cent which gives it a blocking vote.

Ireland is in the group of mainly Caribbean countries along with Canada which has 4 per cent voting power. But most decisions are taken by consensus. Mr Cathal O'Loghlin is Ireland's senior official at IMF headquarters as an alternative executive director.