Important Factors in Global Finances

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Foreign Exchange Market is the market for which a currency of one country is converted into that of another country. There are three things that have came about in response to the foreign exchange rate: International Monetary Fund, Forward Exchange, and corporation relocation. The International Monetary Fund, or the IMF, was created in 1944 to help stabilize exchange rates and maintain order in the international monetary system. Today there are 188 members of the IMF. The IMF is mandated to oversee the international monetary and financial system and monitor the economic and financial policies of their member countries. They strive to achieve macroeconomic stability within each of the member countries. While the IMF does not work directly with firms, their work makes for a more stable economy within a country and less of a foreign exchange risk, which in the long run helps global firms. This stability helps the firms all over the world so they can rely a little bit more on the exchange rate and there is not as much flexibility. The IMF promotes economic growth and an expansion of demand, which created opportunity for international business. The IMF also helps low-income countries benefit from globalization through development of sustainable economic policies and debt reduction in the poorest of countries. All transactions involving the payment or receipt in a foreign currency contain a certain amount of foreign exchange risk. Hedging is one way that a firm can protect itself from foreign exchange risk. Foreign forward exchange is one hedging technique to help protect a firm. A forward exchange is where a firm agrees to purchase a fixed amount of foreign currency at a fixed exchange rate on an agreed upon future date. The future date could be anywhere from 30, 90, or 180 days in the future, but usually doesn’t exceed one year. A forward exchange contract

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