Seminar on future challenges - International Monetary Fund
Date
03/12/2007
In the coming two years Sweden will hold the Nordic-Baltic seat on the IMF Board. To draw attention to this, the Riksbank is today holding a seminar in which participants will discuss, amongst other things, the future challenges facing the IMF. Among others, Jens Henriksson, incoming Swedish board member for the Nordic-Baltic Constituency, will speak about his expectations and priorities ahead of the work at the Fund.
Sveriges Riksbank serves as Sweden’s point of contact with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Together with the Ministry of Finance, the Bank coordinates the regular work with the Fund. There are 185 member countries in the IMF. The IMF works mainly to prevent and in some cases to manage international financial crises. The IMF can employ various measures; monitoring member countries’ economies, lending money on special terms and providing advice to central banks and finance ministries, so-called technical assistance.
Sweden will chair the Constituency
The highest decision-making body in the IMF is the Board. Each country has a representative on this Board, usually the central bank’s governor or finance minister. For Sweden, it is the Governor of the Riksbank. The Board delegates the right of decision-making on almost all issues to the so-called Executive Board, which consists of 24 Executive Directors. Large countries have their own Executive Directors while smaller countries have joined together in so-called constituencies which share an Executive Director. This person represents all countries in the constituency. Sweden is part of the Nordic-Baltic Constituency and will be its representative on the Board in 2008 and 2009. Jens Henriksson from Sweden is appointed Executive Director at the IMF during Sweden’s period of office.
Seminar on future challenges
The Riksbank has invited representatives from Parliament, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the IMF and voluntary organisations to a morning seminar. Mr Murilo Portugal, one of the deputy Managing Directors of the IMF, Mr Jens Henriksson, incoming Swedish board member for the Nordic-Baltic Constituency, Mr Anders Borg, Finance Minister and Mr Stefan Ingves, Governor of the Riksbank, will take part.
History
