The Bretton Woods Conference , or officially, The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, is an international conference held in July 1944 in the USA , New Hampshire , Bretton Woods , Mount Washington Hotel " .
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Conference participants
The conference was attended by 730 delegates from 44 states, members of the anti-Hitler coalition . The conference was held from July 1 to July 22, 1944 . The aim of the conference was to develop international monetary and financial relations at the end of the Second World War .
The conference was chaired by US Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau . The US delegation was led by Harry White . The USSR delegation was headed by Deputy People's Commissar of Foreign Trade M. S. Stepanov . The Chinese delegation was led by Chiang Kai-shek . The positive moment was the cooperation of the delegations of the USA and the USSR. [one]
Representatives of the USSR took an active part in the development of the final documents of the conference. However, after the conference, the government of the USSR decided not to join the work of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund . [2]
List of Member Countries
The conference was attended by representatives of 44 states:
Australia , Belgium , Bolivia , Brazil , United Kingdom , Venezuela , Haiti , Guatemala , Honduras , Greece , Dominican Republic , Egypt , India , Iran , Iraq , Iceland , Canada , China , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Liberia , Luxembourg , Mexico , Netherlands , Nicaragua , Norway , New Zealand , Panama , Paraguay , Peru , Poland , El Salvador , United States of America , Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , Uruguay , Philippines , France , Czechoslovakia , Chile , Yugoslavia , South African Union , Ecuador , Ethiopia . [3]
Conference Work
The conference was held in the form of plenary meetings, work in commissions and committees. [2]
Commission I on the International Monetary Fund was led by US representative Harry Dexter White .
Commission II on the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Bank for Reconstruction and Development) was led by a representative of the United Kingdom, John Maynard Keynes .
Commission III on International Financial Cooperation, led by the representative of Mexico, Eduard Suárez.
Conference Results
Agreements were signed:
- on the creation of such international institutions as
- International Monetary Fund - IMF;
- International Bank for Reconstruction and Development - IBRD,
- on the principles of the formation of foreign exchange rates.
International Monetary Fund
The main goal of the International Monetary Fund was to be the expansion of international trade, and the most important condition for achieving this goal was to maintain the stability of the exchange rates of member countries by providing funds to align their balance of payments. The authorized capital of the International Monetary Fund was set at $ 8 billion 800 million. The largest quotas in millions of US dollars were set: for the USA - 2750 (31.25%), Great Britain - 1300 (14.8%), the USSR - 1200 (13.6%), China - 550 (6.25%), France - 450 (5.1%), India - 400 (4.5%), Canada - 300 (3.4%), Holland - 275 (3.1%), Belgium - 225 (2.5%) and Australia - 200 (2.3%). [one]
Contributions were to be made in gold and in their own national currency. The gold part of the contribution must be either 25% of the quota of a given country, or 10% of its gold reserves and foreign currency convertible into gold, depending on which of these amounts is less. [one]
The conference rejected the amendment of the Soviet delegation that the gold contributions of countries whose territory suffered significant damage from hostilities or occupation are determined in three quarters of the established norms. [one]
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The conference also adopted draft regulations on the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The main objective of the IBRD is to assist Member States in the reconstruction and development of their economy. At the insistence of the Soviet delegation, an indication was included in the charter of the bank that its goal was also financial assistance to restore the economy destroyed by World War II. A prerequisite for joining the IBRD is the participation of the country in the International Monetary Fund.
The bank's capital is estimated at 10 billion dollars, divided into 100 thousand shares of 100 thousand dollars each. The share of the largest countries in the bank’s capital was: USA - $ 3175 million, England - 1300, USSR - 1200, China - 600, France - 450. Of the total quota in the bank’s capital, only 20% are payable at the beginning of operations, and the remaining 80% could be demanded by the bank if necessary. Of these 20%, one tenth, that is 2% of the subscription amount, must be paid in gold or US dollars. At the suggestion of the Soviet delegation, countries affected by enemy occupation or military operations were granted a five-year deferment of 25% of the gold contribution due from them. [one]
At least half of the gold contributed as a contribution to the capital of the IMF and the IBRD should have been stored in the United States, at least 40% of the gold should have been stored in the other four countries that make up the five largest shareholders: Great Britain, the USSR, China, and France. [one]
Implementing Decisions
Most of the participating countries at the Bretton Woods conference have ratified the agreement to establish the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and these agreements have entered into force. The Soviet Union did not ratify these agreements.
Based on the results of the conference, the Bretton Woods currency system was developed based on the fixed gold parity of the US dollar ($ 35 = 1 troy ounce of gold ). This system was in place until the early 1970s, when on August 15, 1971, Richard Nixon announced the termination of the exchange of dollars for gold for foreign governments, which meant the US withdrawal from the Bretton Woods system. [4] However, the Bretton Woods system officially operated until 1978, when the Jamaican currency system came into effect.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 BRETTON WOODS CONFERENCE. Diplomatic Dictionary .
- ↑ 1 2 From Around the World. Tne Bretton Woods Institutions turn 60
- ↑ Delegations at Bretton Woods. Tne Bretton Woods Institutions turn 60
- ↑ Nixon Ends Convertibility of US Dollars to Gold and Announces Wage / Price Controls . Federal reserve history
Links
Literature
Bretton Woods Conference // Ivanyan E.A. Encyclopedia of Russian-American Relations. XVIII-XX centuries. - Moscow: International Relations, 2001. - 696 p. - ISBN 5-7133-1045-0 .