- Ivar Rooth
Ivar Rooth was the
International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s second Managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Board, serving from 1951 -1956. He was born on November 2, 1888, in Stockholm, Sweden. He graduated fromUppsala University with a Law degree in 1911.In his early career he was: Solicitor for the Handelsbank (Commercial Bank) of Stockholm (1914); head of Bank's Commercial Credit Department (1915); Assistant Manager and Solicitor of Stockholm Mortgage Bank for several years; Governor of the Central Bank of Sweden (
Sveriges Riksbank , 1929-1948); Director ofBank of International Settlements (1931-1933 and 1937-1949). In 1951 he headed a mission to Iraq for theInternational Bank for Reconstruction and Development , and on April 10 of the same year he was appointed Managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Board of the IMF, assuming his duties on August 3, 1951.Rooth, in his first address to member countries as Managing Director of the IMF on September 11, 1951, stated that the Fund "sought removal or modification of exchange restrictions and other discriminatory practices" aimed at a freer flow of
international trade and payments. Subsequently, general policy on use of IMF's resources was set forth. This initiated the IMF's policy of drawings in tranches. In 1952, in accordance with the Articles of Agreement, 5 years after the IMF began financial operations, annual consultations with members maintaining exchange restrictions under Article XIV were initiated. The IMF introduced a general framework for Stand-by Arrangements, and the criteria to be applied were standardized. Rooth's term as Managing Director of the IMF ended on April 27, 1956, but he accepted a request by the Executive Board to serve a further period ending on October 3, 1956.Rooth was head of the Investment Committee of the
United Nations Pension Fund from 1947 to 1961, and he was also head of the Currency Board inKuwait from 1960 to 1962. After 1962 he stepped down and lived at Lindingo,Sweden , and occasionally wrote and gave lectures on economic affairs.Ivar Rooth died on February 27, 1972 in Sweden.
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