Healthy Money Healthy Planet - library.uniteddiversity.coop

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currencies to the US dollar.
The Bretton Woods Conference also established two institutions, the IMF
and the Bank for Reconstruction and Development (later known as the World
Bank). In addition, it laid the foundations of the General Agreement on Trade
and Tariffs (GATT), which was to evolve in 1995 into the World Trade
Organization (WTO).
The role of the Bank for Reconstruction and Devlopment was to assist
developing countries with long­term development programmes, while that of
the IMF was to promote currency stability and liberalisation of international
trade. Together with GATT, they were to unite the nations of the world in a web
of economic prosperity that would preclude them from taking up arms. Today,
the words ‘Our dream is a world free of poverty’ are still posted in large letters
inside the glass lobby of the World Bank building in Washington, DC. 13
According to Michael Rowbotham in The Grip of Death, ‘The purpose of
the IMF was to provide an international reserve of money – a financial pool
upon which all member countries could call, whether rich or poor, should they
hit a temporary balance of payments difficulty.’ 14 Countries that contribute the
most, such as the US, have the most influence over decisions made by the IMF.
In addition, both the IMF and World Bank have to serve the shareholders of the
world’s biggest banks. Even today, the governance and administration of these
bodies are secret, and their world is carefully shielded from public scrutiny and
democratic debate.
While development and alleviation of poverty were the stated goals of the