ABSTRACT

Much aid comes with requirements attached, specifying actions which recipient governments should undertake in return for the assistance. This practice of ‘conditionality’ has been particularly central to the operations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and conditional lending is also important for the work of the World Bank and other development agencies. Bilateral donors – mainly the governments of major industrial nations – also rely on conditionality, often by supporting the stipulations of the IMF and World Bank (the international finance institutions, or IFIs), but sometimes by laying down requirements of their own (e.g. to promote human rights, reduce corruption or protect the environment).