Global Financial Systems

The global financial system — encompassing institutions, markets, and flows of capital — plays a decisive role in shaping economic development. International financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) exercise enormous influence over the economic policies of developing countries, while debt, remittances, and aid flows profoundly affect people's lives.

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The Bretton Woods Institutions

The World Bank and IMF were both established at the Bretton Woods Conference in New Hampshire, USA, in July 1944. The conference, attended by representatives of 44 Allied nations, aimed to create a stable international monetary system to prevent a recurrence of the economic chaos of the 1930s.