imf.....

In over simplified terms, the IMF is the regulatory wing to the World Bank. It controls banking procedures for international dealings and to the monitoring of national debts. It is far more complicated than that, but I hope this has helped, as the US does have an incredibly large trade deficit at the moment, and is up to its eye-balls in international debt, so the IMF may well become a much bigger factor in the US than it has in the past.