Conditionality and ownership in IMF lending: a political economy approach

The IMF is currently engaged in a wide-ranging and comprehensive reexamination of the nature of its assistance programs. Many of the issues being discussed fall under the general heading of “conditionality” in lending, defined as the “explicit link between the approval or continuation of the IMF’s financing and the implementation of certain specific aspects of the government’s policy program” (IMF 2001).1