Key Concepts & Self-Assessment15 Key Facts
Review key Bretton Woods & Global Trade: WTO, IMF, World Bank & Multilateral Rules exam facts and rate your mastery to track revision.
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#1
The 1944 Bretton Woods Conference established the IMF and the World Bank (IBRD) to rebuild the post-war global monetary and economic order.
#2
The IMF provides balance-of-payments financial assistance and manages Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), valued against a basket of five major currencies.
#3
The World Bank Group consists of five institutions: IBRD, International Development Association (IDA), IFC, MIGA, and ICSID.
#4
The World Trade Organization (WTO) was officially established on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, replacing the 1947 GATT framework.
#5
WTO operates multilateral treaties including TRIPS (intellectual property), GATS (services), and TRIMS (trade-related investment measures) from its Geneva headquarters.
#6
The Special Drawing Right (SDR) currency basket was revised by the IMF in 2016 to include the Chinese Renminbi alongside the US Dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, and British Pound.
#7
The International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, provides zero-to-low-interest concessional credits and grants to the world's poorest developing nations.
#8
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) acts as the private-sector investment arm of the World Bank Group, promoting commercial development in emerging markets.
#9
The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) provides political risk insurance against non-commercial risks such as war, expropriation, and breach of contract.
#10
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitrates legal disputes between international investors and sovereign states; India is notably not a signatory.
#11
The WTO Appellate Body, comprising seven members responsible for reviewing dispute panel reports, became incapacitated in December 2019 due to blockages in member appointments.
#12
The Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) principle under Article I of GATT mandates that any trade concession granted to one WTO member nation must be extended immediately to all members.
#13
The National Treatment principle under Article III of GATT prohibits discrimination between imported foreign goods and domestically produced goods once they clear border customs.
#14
The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which entered into force in February 2017, is the first multilateral agreement concluded under the WTO to expedite cross-border customs procedures.
#15
The Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) categorizes domestic agricultural subsidies into three traffic-light boxes: Amber Box (trade-distorting), Blue Box (production-limiting), and Green Box (non-distorting).
Subject Specialist Commentary
Analytical perspective & practical exam advice from the Master10 academic board
The modern framework of global trade and finance emerged from the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, which created the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Headquartered in Washington, the IMF manages balance-of-payments stability and Special Drawing Rights, while the World Bank Group finances long-term development through bodies like IBRD and IDA. In 1995, the Marrakesh Agreement replaced GATT with the World Trade Organization to govern international multilateral commerce.
In UPSC Prelims and State PSC exams, multilateral institutions generate frequent questions regarding voting power and memberships. A classic prelims trap tests India's membership in the World Bank Group: India belongs to IBRD, IDA, IFC, and MIGA, but is not a member of ICSID, the investment dispute body. In international trade revision, remember that the WTO operates from Geneva, administering binding agreements like TRIPS for intellectual property and GATS for services.
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