116. Bretton Woods at 80: Why the global financial system needs big changes to boost sustainable development

With the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund happening this month, the Weekly Tradecast is looking at Bretton Woods with special guest Danny Quah, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

The Bretton Woods agreement of July 1944 – about a year before the end of World War Two – aimed to create an efficient foreign exchange system and promote trade and economic growth.

All of the countries in the system agreed to a fixed peg of their currencies against the U.S. dollar, which in turn was pegged to the price of gold.

The currency peg and the system collapsed in the early 1970s. But out of the Bretton Woods system came various multilateral organisations that remain as fixtures of trade, development and the global financial architecture.

Today, there are calls for new approaches as climate change threatens the planet, a series of crises hit the global economy and many countries suffer from debt distress that is stunting their growth.

Tune in to special guest Danny Quah from the National University of Singapore to learn more about the 80-year legacy of Bretton Woods and how the global financial system could better support development.