In the twenty-three years since the inaugural meeting of the Board of Governors at Savannah, the International Monetary Fund has evolved into a complex instrument of financial co-operation. No comprehensive account of this evolution could possibly be given within the space of this article and the intention is to describe the origins and development of two major aspects of the Fund's operations which are closely connected with its role in the balance of payments adjustment process - namely, the conditions of access by members to its facilities (Fund drawings) and the means by which demands on these facilities have been financed (Fund liquidity). Clearly this treatment covers only a part of the whole subject of the Fund's role in the adjustment process.
The International Monetary Fund - use and supply of resources