SAPs/PRSPsBank and Fund structural adjustment programmes (SAP's) often required dramatic reform of a borrowing country's economic policy. The successor to SAPs, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSPs) set out a country's macroeconomic, structural and social policies to promote growth and reduce poverty. These comprehensive strategies for reform are necessary for World Bank loans or lending by the fund under the poverty reduction and growth facility (PRGF). Includes: conditionality, structural adjustment lending, Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative (SAPRIN), Poverty and Social Impact Assessment (PSIA), PRGF, letters of intent read more... BriefingsProgramme conditions, project safeguards: Quo vadis World Bank?This briefing clarifies the landscape of programme conditions and project safeguards and what it implies for a move towards responsible lending standards. read article... Consolidating ideology in law? Legal and judicial reform programmes at the World BankThe World Bank has vastly increased the resources it commits to good governance, with a large portion of that going to a complex and under-researched area: legal and judicial reform. Researcher Victoria Harris explores how the Bank uses such reforms to cement in place its preferred market-based development paradigm. read article... Too much, too soon: IMF conditionality and inflation targeting by Gerald Epstein, University of MassachusettsGerald Epstein, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, finds that despite little evidence of the success of inflation targeting in promoting economic growth, employment creation or poverty reduction, the IMF is increasingly using loan conditions and technical assistance to push its use. There is an urgent need for viable alternatives that focus on employment generation, poverty reduction, export promotion and investment enhancement to be given more attention. read article... Items 1 to 9 of 289IMF consultation in advance of the PSI reviewNotes of a consultation between IMF staff and NGOs in advance of the PSI review read article... Structural conditionalities in the IMF: A discussion between the IMF, IEO, and CSOsAn upcoming civil society report demonstrates that IMF structural conditionality did not decline in the five years after the approval of the Fund's conditionality guidelines in September 2002, which were based on the principles of ownership and criticality in its application of structural conditionality, as well as to streamlining the number of conditions. Going on seven years, it seems that these guidelines have been more honoured in principle than in practice. A recent Independent Evaluation Office report confirms that progress in implementing the conditionality guidelines has been limited. Findings confirm that the IMF continues to impose conditions in areas beyond its core mandate of monetary policy, public financial management and financial sector soundness. These non-core areas include state-owned enterprise reform and privatization, social policies, civil service reform, or regulatory reform. read article... Bank both player and referee in road to AccraOn aid effectiveness the World Bank is both player and referee, prompting cries of foul play by civil society groups. read article... IMF-sponsored pension reform prompts Turkish strikesIn early March Turkish unions conducted a two hour "warning strike" to protest against IMF-supported plans for pension plan and health insurance reform. read article... IMF rebukes Tajiks over false informationTajikistan has gotten itself in hot water with the IMF over poor reporting of information while the country was borrowing money from the Fund. read article... Europe questions IFIs on conditionality: whose outcome?A new report shows that IMF structural conditionality did not decline in the five years after the approval of the Fund’s conditionality guidelines. With little progress at the World Bank, many wonder whether a new approach is needed. read article... IMF humiliates Bangladeshi officials over tax lawThe Dhaka-based New Nation newspaper reports in January that the IMF has over stepped its bounds in trying to convince the government to reform its tax policy. read article... Peru to bow out, Turkey to renew?Peru has indicated that it does not plan to renew its stand-by arrangement with the IMF when it expires next year. Turkey, the Fund’s largest borrower, is still debating is next move when its programme expires in May. read article... |
Articles: 2185 Related itemsEvents
ResourcesCritical conditions: The IMF maintains its grip on low-income governments 9 April Civil society letter to US Congress on IMF gold sales, health, education, and debt cancellation 1 April Turning the tables: aid and accountability under the Paris framework 20 March International Development Committee report on DFID and the World Bank 5 March MONLAR on World Bank 2 March Final IDA 15 report 28 February Outcome-based conditionality 15 February Old habits die hard: 18 January An open conference on IMF conditionality 10 January Newswire |
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