Hendrikus Johannes "Johan" Witteveen was a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and economist. He served as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 1 September 1973 until 18 June 1978.
The Tokyo Round was a multi-year multilateral trade negotiation (MTN) between 102 nation-states that were parties to the GATT. The negotiations resulted in reduced tariffs and established new regulations aimed at controlling the proliferation of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and voluntary export restrictions. The aim was further to harmonize government policies. Concessions were made on $19 billion worth of trade, and were scheduled to enter effect over eight years from 1980. The Tokyo Round concluded in April 1979.
Despite the victory against Pakistan, the Congress government faced numerous problems during this term. Some of these were due to high inflation which was in turn caused by war time expenses, drought in some parts of the country and more importantly, the 1973 oil crisis.