The World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund were both established in 1944 at a conference
of world leaders in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The aim of the two
"Bretton Woods institutions" as they are sometimes called, was to
place the international economy on a sound footing after World War II. Bank
membership is open to countries which are members of the IMF. The work of the
Bank and the Fund is complementary, but their individual roles are quite
different. The World Bank is a lending institution whose aim is to help
integrate countries into the wider world economy and promote long-term economic
growth that reduces poverty in developing countries. The IMF acts as a monitor
of the world's currencies by helping to maintain an orderly system of payments
between all countries, and lends money to members who face serious balance of
payments deficits. While the World Bank makes loans for both policy reforms and
projects, the International Monetary Fund concerns itself with policies alone.
It provides loans to member countries that have a short-term problem meeting
their foreign payments requirements and seeks to obtain full convertibility
among the currencies of its members under the system of flexible exchange rates
in force since 1973.
click
here to find more information about the IMF history
