ABSTRACT
The origins of American participation in the multilateral development banks involve many complex issues. The history of American participation in the Multilateral Development Banks provides a thumbnail sketch of the many goals and pressures shaping United States (US) policy towards the international lending agencies. Representatives of the 44 wartime United Nations gathered at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in July 1944 to work out final plans for reforming the world financial system. The US, Britain and the other Allied governments wanted fundamental changes in the world economic system, for they had seen how the financial collapse of the thirties led to cutthroat competition, stifled international commerce, deepening the depression, and growing political tensions which lead ultimately to war. The World Bank evolved in the decade after its formation from an institution concerned mainly with the financial needs of postwar Europe to one devoted primarily to the development prospects and economic needs of the world’s less affluent lands.
