The International Monetary Fund (IMF) plays a key role in defining how much governments can spend. The Fund’s view of what defines the macro economic stability of a country is the authoritative one for all development partners. Given this, the Fund could and should be playing a dynamic, proactive role in establishing the financing conditions for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. But there are key areas where the Fund is failing to play this role and a radical rethink is needed, says Oxfam in this briefing paper.