The Contemporary World

International Financial Institutions –

International Financial Institutions (IFI)
- It is a financial institution that has been established (or chartered) by
more than one country, and hence are subjects of international law. Its
owners or shareholders are generally national governments, although
other international institutions and other organizations occasionally
figure as shareholders. The most prominent IFIs are creations of
multiple nations, although some bilateral financial institutions (created
by two countries) exist and are technically IFIs. 
International Financial Institutions (IFI)
- Today, the world's largest IFI is the European Investment Bank, with a
balance sheet size of €573 billion in 2016. This compares to the two
components of the World Bank, the IBRD (assets of $358 billion in
2014) and the IDA (assets of $183 billion in 2014). For comparison,
the largest commercial banks each have assets of c.$2,000-3,000
billion.
Bretton Woods Institutions
- These are the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
(IMF). They were set up at a meeting of 43 countries in Bretton
Woods, New Hampshire, USA in July 1944. Their aims were to help
rebuild the shattered post-war economy and to promote international
economic corporations
 Bretton Woods Institutions
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 189 countries,
working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate
international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth,
and reduce poverty around the world.
- The World Bank's (the IBRD and IDA's) activities are focused on developing
countries, in fields such as human development (e.g. education, health),
agriculture and rural development (e.g. irrigation and rural services),
environmental protection (e.g. pollution reduction, establishing and enforcing
regulations), infrastructure (e.g. roads, urban regeneration, and electricity), large
industrial construction projects, and governance (e.g. anti-corruption, legal
institutions development). The IBRD and IDA provide loans at preferential rates to
member countries, as well as grants to the poorest countries. Loans or grants for
specific projects are often linked to wider policy changes in the sector or the
country's economy as a whole.
 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
and World Trade Organization (WTO)
- It was a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose
was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade
barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its preamble, its purpose was
the "substantial reduction of tariffs and other trade barriers and the
elimination of preferences, on a reciprocal and mutually advantageous
basis.“
- GATT, and its successor WTO, have successfully reduced tariffs. The average
tariff levels for the major GATT participants were about 22% in 1947, but
were 5% after the Uruguay Round in 1999. Experts attribute part of these
tariff changes to GATT and the WTO.
 The Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD)
- The mission of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) is to promote policies that will improve the economic
and social well-being of people around the world.
- The OECD provides a forum in which governments can work together to
share experiences and seek solutions to common problems. It works with
government to understand what drives economic, social and environmental
change. It also measure productivity and global flows of trade and
investment. It analyse and compare data to predict future trends. It set
international standards on a wide range of things, from agriculture and tax
to the safety of chemicals.
 The Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD)
• It also look at issues that directly affect everyone’s daily life, like how much
people pay in taxes and social security, and how much leisure time they can
take. It compares how different countries’ school systems are readying their
young people for modern life, and how different countries’ pension systems
will look after their citizens in old age.