International Monetary Fund Annual Report 1960

This paper reviews key findings of the IMF’s Annual Report for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1960. The report highlights that the year ended April 1960 showed a continued upswing in world industrial activity and an increase in world trade. Industrial production in 1959 was greater by 10 percent than in the recession year of 1958, and the value of world trade increased by 6 percent, both increases being more or less continuous from about the middle of 1958.

International Financial Statistics, April 1960

This paper focuses on progress in reducing or eliminating exchange restrictions that has been substantial and has been made on a wide front; retrogressions have been comparatively few. The beneficial effects of the widening scope of currency convertibility have been felt in many areas, and the evolution toward freer, more orderly, and less discriminatory trade and payments has been strongly supported by a high level of economic activity, expanding international trade, and the general maintenance of monetary stability. Recent developments in trade and payments have not merely reduced the scope of restrictions; they have also changed the nature of these restrictions. Of key importance was the introduction of external convertibility by several countries at the end of 1958. Quotations for externally convertible currencies in exchange markets throughout the world have shown only minor fluctuations in the past twelve months. Most Western European currencies have generally been strong in terms of the US dollar.

This paper reviews key findings of the IMF’s Annual Report for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1957. The report highlights that boom conditions continued throughout 1956, sustained by an undercurrent of private business investment sufficiently strong to compensate for such weaknesses as appeared in some individual sectors. Any apprehensions, which might have been entertained in the early months of the year that the upward trend of business was soon to be reversed, were thus shown to be without foundation.

This paper reviews key findings of the IMF’s Annual Report for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1962. The report highlights that the year 1961 was one of general expansion in the industrial countries. In the United States and Canada, industrial production and real national product resumed their upward course during the spring of 1961, following the mild recession of 1960. Expansion continued in Europe and Japan, although at a slower rate than in the earlier year, as production approached the limits of the available supplies of labor.

International Financial Statistics, October 1960

This paper reviews key findings of the IMF’s Annual Report for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1961. The report highlights that in contrast to the year 1959, when virtually all countries participated in worldwide expansion, the year 1960 and the early part of 1961 presented a less unified picture. Rapid growth continued in most of the European industrial countries and in Japan, but in the United States and Canada, a slackening of activity was evident. The volume of exports of the primary producing countries also increased.

This paper reviews key findings of the IMF’s Annual Report for the fiscal year ended April 1950. The report highlights that the widespread devaluation of currencies that took place in September 1949 was the most far-reaching in any comparable period in recent times. Thirteen members agreed new par values with the IMF, most of them involving a devaluation of approximately 30.5 percent in relation to the U.S. dollar. Six member countries with which the IMF has no agreed par value also depreciated their exchange rates.