Creating Policy Space - Responsive Design and Streamlined Conditionality in Recent Low-Income Country Programs

Date:	September 9, 2009
Electronic Access:	Full text
Subject(s):	Economic policy | Low-income developing countries | External shocks | Fiscal policy | Monetary policy | Fund role | Fund facilities | Access to Fund general resources | Conditionality | Financial crisis | Global Financial Crisis 2008-2009 | Economic indicators
Summary: An analysis of recent programs in low-income countries, covering countries with continuous program engagement with the IMF throughout the period 2007-09, shows that program design has been adapted to provide expanded policy space in response to the food and fuel price shocks of 2007-08 and to the global financial crisis that followed. The analysis also finds that structural conditionality in Fund-supported programs in low-income countries has become more streamlined, with a dominant focus on public sector resource management and accountability.