International Monetary Fund Annual Report 1961

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 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.

This paper discusses that total world trade rose significantly, particularly because of sustained European demand. With some exceptions, prices of basic products fell during the period. In this economic environment, developments in exchange markets became of focal interest to the IMF. The cumulative effect during recent years of relaxing surrender requirements and restrictions on payments has been very largely to restore to exchange markets their traditional function of reflecting the trend of international financial pressures. The difficulties that several countries faced in coordinating their internal and external monetary policies accentuated the international movements of short-term funds which had become increasingly important in preceding years. In particular, the Federal Republic of Germany and Switzerland received large amounts of foreign funds. Some countries continued to reduce their restrictions, particularly in the direction of simplifying exchange systems and liberalizing imports. These moves made a contribution toward sustaining the volume of world trade.

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, 1963. The report highlights that during the course of 1962, economic activity continued to expand in most industrial countries. In the United States, there was some slowdown in production, but final purchases rose almost as much as during 1961, and a revival of activity set in during the early part of 1963. In continental Europe, a climate of general prosperity continued to prevail.

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.

This paper reviews key findings of the IMF’s Annual Report for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1966. The report highlights that the year 1965 was characterized by substantial, although somewhat uneven, growth in the world economy. For the first time in many years, the rise in industrial output in the United States and Canada was markedly higher than in the other industrial countries, where, in the first half of the year, economic progress was generally rather slow. However, after midyear, economic activity accelerated both in the United States and in the European area.

This paper reviews key findings of the IMF’s Annual Report for the fiscal year ended April 1949. The report highlights that the unbalanced conditions that have characterized the world economic situation since the end of the war still prevail. In many countries, there remains a striking discrepancy between demand and productive capacity, and an even greater discrepancy between the need for imports and capacity to pay for them. Until effective measures are taken to meet these closely related problems, there can be little hope of achieving the expansion of world trade on a multilateral basis.