Commentary The Bretton Woods Agreement came into effect in 1944, laying the foundations for a new international monetary system. With the agreement came the creation of two new organizations. The first was the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an institution (ostensibly) designed to secure international monetary cooperation. The second institution, the World Bank Group, played a key role in rebuilding countries devastated by World War II. Fast forward almost 80 years, and both the World Bank and the IMF find themselves mired in controversy and heavily compromised. In September 2021, Kristalina Georgieva, a Bulgarian economist serving as chair and managing director of the IMF, was accused of influencing a report in Beijing’s favor during her time at the World Bank. According to numerous credible reports, Georgieva applied “undue pressure” on staff to boost China’s ranking in the bank’s “Doing Business” report, which ranks countries based on issues like regulatory and legal frameworks, financing measures, and quality of infrastructure. Shortly after Georgieva was …