The imposition of strict conditions on borrowing countries by international lenders like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Conditionality is aimed at encouraging borrowing countries to implement serious structural reforms that can improve their economy as well as their creditworthiness. Since international lending is tied to fulfilling predetermined conditions, it is believed that conditionality can be used as an effective tool to enforce tough economic reforms. Critics have argued that the conditions for borrowing imposed on countries are influenced primarily by politics, rather than any genuine intent to improve the borrower’s economic condition.
