Historically, the biggest threat to the IMF has been irrelevance. It was almost made redundant in the 1970s, when the US floated the dollar, only to be saved in 1982 by the Mexican debt crisis, which propelled it into the role of global financial lifeguard.
但是，同样重要的是以下事实：IMF在做决定是面临着生存危机。从历史上看，对IMF最大的威胁是遭到冷落。20世纪70年代美国决定让美元浮动时，IMF几乎被晾在一旁，直到1982年墨西哥债务危机才得到了救赎，这场危机让IMF成为全球金融卫士。