Original: The chief features of the Bretton Woods system were an obligation for each country to adopt a monetary policy that maintained the exchange rate of its currency within a fixed value -- plus or minus one percent -- in terms of gold and the ability of the IMF to bridge temporary imbalances of payments .
Simplified: It meant that each country had to have a monetary policy that kept the exchange rate of its currency within a fixed value -- plus or minus one percent -- in terms of gold .