Membership of the Bretton Woods system can be regarded as one of the most far-reaching decisions that Finland took in trade and the entire field of foreign policy in the decades after World War II. Membership of the IMF was one great step on the path the country chose in its international economic relations.
The most tangible consequence of the IMF was the commitment to a process that made the Finnish markka externally convertible. Another part of the same package was membership of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), which meant a reduction in tariff barriers and a commitment to implementing the principles of free trade.