Group of 10 (G10)
Categories: Econ, International
The International Monetary Fund is an international organization that acts as a fund of money. You, uh...probably guessed that much. The money is used to stabilize troubled economies throughout the world and provide loans for developing countries.
Where does it get its fund of money though? From the world's major economic powers, of course.
Take the G10. In 1962, a group of countries signed a deal called the General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB). In it, the nations agreed to make funds available to the IMF under certain conditions. It basically represented a deal to underwrite the organization if a serious situation came up.
Originally, the GAB had eight signers. This list eventually expanded to ten, and then eleven. However, they stuck with the name Group of 10 (Switzerland was the last signer, and maybe the other countries were just tired of fondue).
The G10 currently consists of the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Canada. The other countries make Switzerland and Canada sit at the kids' table.
See: Group of 20 (G20).