The road that led to Gutt's appointment, in May 1946, as the first managing director of the IMF was certainly an unexpected one. In February 1945, when the Pierlot government fell, there was no doubt that Gutt thought of retiring. Nevertheless, there were still some issues that needed to be resolved. The first was the negotiation of the end of the Lend-Lease agreement between Belgium and the US. The second was the implementation of the Bretton Woods agreements. In the first case, Gutt's wartime experience made him almost a natural choice for conducting the negotiations. In the second case, Gutt's presence in the Belgian delegation in Savannah came as a result of the good relationship forged by the former Belgian finance minister with both the British and the American Treasuries during the War.

Once appointed as the first managing director of the IMF, Gutt had to face the challenge of making the new international organization work. More difficult proved to be the relationship between the IMF on the one hand and the US on the other, as well as between the IMF and Western Europe in the context of the rising Cold War. These issues were first reflected in the questions of the dollar scarcity and of the French devaluation of 1948. Then, the question of economic and monetary cooperation in Europe revealed to be another challenge for the IMF, raising the question of its relevance.