Agreement dated December 6, 1945, between the United States and the United Kingdom, referred to in text, is set out as a note below.

Section was not enacted as a part of act July 31, 1945, ch. 339, 59 Stat. 512, known as the Bretton Woods Agreements Act, which comprises this subchapter.

1957—Pub. L. 85–21 inserted “, and the action of the Secretary of the Treasury in signing the agreement dated March 6, 1957, amending said agreement is approved”.

Act July 15, 1946, ch. 577, 60 Stat. 535, provided that:

“Whereas in the Bretton Woods Agreements Act [this subchapter] the Congress has declared it to be the policy of the United States ‘to seek to bring about further agreement and cooperation among nations and international bodies, as soon as possible, on ways and means which will best reduce obstacles to and restrictions upon international trade, eliminate unfair trade practices, promote mutually advantageous commercial relations, and otherwise facilitate the expansion and balanced growth of international trade and promote the stability of international economic relations’; and

“Whereas in further implementation of the purposes of the Bretton Woods Agreements, the Governments of the United States and the United Kingdom have negotiated an agreement dated December 6, 1945, designed to expedite the achievement of stable and orderly exchange arrangements, the prompt elimination of exchange restrictions and discriminations, and other objectives of the above-mentioned policy declared by the Congress.”

Functions of National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Problems delegated to National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Policies, see section 2(a) of Ex. Ord. No. 11269, Feb. 14, 1966, 31 F.R. 2813, set out as a note under section 286b of this title.

It is hereby agreed between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as follows:

1. Effective date of the agreement: The effective date of this Agreement shall be the date on which the Government of the United States notifies the Government of the United Kingdom that the Congress of the United States has made available the funds necessary to extend to the Government of the United Kingdom the line of credit in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement.

2. Line of credit: The Government of the United States will extend to the Government of the United Kingdom a line of credit of $3,750,000,000 which may be drawn upon at any time between the effective date of this Agreement and December 31, 1951, inclusive.

3. Purpose of the line of credit: The purpose of the line of credit is to facilitate purchases by the United Kingdom of goods and services in the United States, to assist the United Kingdom to meet transitional post-war deficits in its current balance of payments, to help the United Kingdom to maintain adequate reserves of gold and dollars, and to assist the Government of the United Kingdom to assume the obligations of multilateral trade, as defined in this and other agreements.

4. Amortization and interest:

(i) The amount of the line of credit drawn by December 31, 1951, shall be repaid in 50 annual installments beginning on December 31, 1951, with interest at the rate of 2 percent per annum. Interest for the year 1951 shall be computed on the amount outstanding on December 31, 1951, and for each year thereafter, interest shall be computed on the amount outstanding on January 1 of each such year.

Forty-nine annual installments of principal repayments and interest shall be equal, calculated at the rate of $31,823,000 for each $1,000,000,000 of the line of credit drawn by December 31, 1951, and the fiftieth installment shall be at the rate of $31,840,736.65 for each such $1,000,000,000. Each installment shall consist of the full amount of the interest due and the remainder of the installment shall be the principal to be repaid in that year. Payments required by this section are subject to the provisions of section 5.

(ii) The Government of the United Kingdom may accelerate repayment of the amount drawn under this line of credit.

5. Deferment of annual installments.

(i) In any calendar year after December 31, 1956, in which the Government of the United Kingdom advises the Government of the United States that it finds that a deferment is necessary in view of the present and prospective conditions of international exchange and the level of its gold and foreign exchange reserves, the Government of the United Kingdom may defer the payment of the annual installment for that year of principal repayment and interest specified under Section 4. Not more than seven (7) annual installments may be so deferred. The first of any such deferred installments shall be paid on December 31, 2001, and the others shall be paid annually thereafter, in order.

(ii) In addition, the installment of interest in respect of the year 1956 is hereby deferred, in lieu of any right of waiver hitherto existing. This installment shall be paid on December 31 of the year following that in which the last of all other installments, including installments deferred under the preceding paragraph, is due.

(iii) Deferred installments shall bear interest at the rate of 2 percent per annum, payable annually on December 31 of each year following that in which deferment occurs.

(iv) Payment of deferred installments may be accelerated, in whole or in part, at the option of the Government of the United Kingdom. [Amended Mar. 6, 1957, eff. Apr. 25, 1957.]

6. Relation of this line of credit to other obligations. The Government of the United Kingdom undertakes not to defer an installment under Section 5 of this Agreement in any year, unless it also defers the installment due in that year under the Financial Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United Kingdom, dated March 6, 1946. [Amended Mar. 6, 1957, eff. Apr. 25, 1957.]

7. Sterling area exchange arrangements: The Government of the United Kingdom will complete arrangements as early as practicable and in any case not later than one year after the effective date of this Agreement, unless in exceptional cases a later date is agreed upon after consultation, under which immediately after the completion of such arrangements the sterling receipts from current transactions of all sterling area countries (apart from any receipts arising out of military expenditure by the Government of the United Kingdom prior to December 31, 1948, to the extent to which they are treated by agreement with the countries concerned on the same basis as the balances accumulated during the war) will be freely available for current transactions in any currency area without discrimination; with the result that any discrimination arising from the so-called sterling area dollar pool will be entirely removed and that each member of the sterling area will have its current sterling and dollar receipts at its free disposition for current transactions anywhere.

8. Other exchange arrangements:

(i) Government of the United Kingdom agrees that after the effective date of this Agreement it will not apply exchange controls in such a manner as to restrict (a) payments or transfers in respect of products of the United States permitted to be imported into the United Kingdom or other current transactions between the two countries or (b) the use of sterling balances to the credit of residents of the United States arising out of current transactions. Nothing in this paragraph (i) shall affect the provisions of Article VII of the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund when those Articles have come into force.

(ii) The Governments of the United States and the United Kingdom agree that not later than one year after the effective date of this Agreement, unless in exceptional cases a later date is agreed upon after consultation, they will impose no restrictions on payments and transfers for current transactions. The obligations of this paragraph (ii) shall not apply:

(a) to balances of third countries and their nationals accumulated before this paragraph (ii) becomes effective; or

(b) to restrictions imposed in conformity with the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund, provided that the Governments of the United Kingdom and the United States will not continue to invoke the provisions of Article XIV, Section 2 of those Articles after this paragraph (ii) becomes effective, unless in exceptional cases after consultation they agree otherwise; or

(c) to restrictions imposed in connection with measures designed to uncover and dispose of assets of Germany and Japan.

(iii) This section and section 9, which are in anticipation of more comprehensive arrangements by multilateral agreement, shall operate until December 31, 1951.

9. Import arrangements: If either the Government of the United States or the Government of the United Kingdom imposes or maintains quantitative import restrictions, such restrictions shall be administered on a basis which does not discriminate against imports from the other country in respect of any product; provided that this undertaking shall not apply in cases in which (a) its application would have the effect of preventing the country imposing such restrictions from utilizing, for the purchase of needed imports, inconvertible currencies accumulated up to December 31, 1946, or (b) there may be special necessity for the country imposing such restrictions to assist, by measures not involving a substantial departure from the general rule of non-discrimination, a country whose economy has been disrupted by war, or (c) either government imposes quantitative restrictions having equivalent effect to any exchange restrictions which that government is authorized to impose in conformity with Article VII of the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund. The provisions of this section shall become effective as soon as practicable but not later than December 31, 1946.

10. Accumulated sterling balances:

(i) The Government of the United Kingdom intends to make agreements with the countries concerned, varying according to the circumstances of each case, for an early settlement covering the sterling balances accumulated by sterling area and other countries prior to such settlement (together with any future receipts arising out of military expenditure by the Government of the United Kingdom to the extent to which they are treated on the same basis by agreement with the countries concerned). The settlements with the sterling area countries will be on the basis of dividing these accumulated balances into three categories (a) balances to be released at once and convertible into any currency for current transactions, (b) balances to be similarly released by installments over a period of years beginning in 1951, and (c) balances to be adjusted as a contribution to the settlement of war and postwar indebtedness and in recognition of the benefits which the countries concerned might be expected to gain from such a settlement. The Government of the United Kingdom will make every endeavor to secure the early completion of these arrangements.

(ii) In consideration of the fact that an important purpose of the present line of credit is to promote the development of multilateral trade and facilitate its early resumption on a non-discriminatory basis, the Government of the United Kingdom agrees that any sterling balances released or otherwise available for current payments will, not later than one year after the effective date of this Agreement unless in special cases a later date is agreed upon after consultation, be freely available for current transactions in any currency area without discrimination.

11. Definitions:

For the purposes of this Agreement:

(i) The term “current transactions” shall have the meaning prescribed in Article XIX (i) of the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund.

(ii) The term “sterling area” means the United Kingdom and the other territories declared by the Defence (Finance) Definition of the Sterling Area) (No. 2) Order, 1944, to be included in the sterling area, namely “the following territories excluding Canada and Newfoundland, that is to say—

(a) any Dominion,

(b) any other part of His Majesty’s dominions,

(c) any territory in respect of which a mandate on behalf of the League of Nations has been accepted by His Majesty and is being exercised by His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom or in any Dominion,

(d) any British protectorate or protected State,

(e) Egypt, the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and Iraq.

(f) Iceland and the Faroe Islands.”

12. Consultation on Agreement: Either government shall be entitled to approach the other for a reconsideration of any of the provisions of this Agreement, if in its opinion the prevailing conditions of international exchange justify such reconsideration, with a view to agreeing upon modifications for presentation to their respective legislatures.

Signed in duplicate at Washington, District of Columbia this 6th day of December, 1945.

For the Government of the United States of America:

Secretary of the Treasury  

of the United States of America.

For the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: