IMF CONDITIONALITY

Abstract

The International Monetary Fund Conditionality has become of great interest lately to many scholars. This is because the IMF stabilisation programmes implemented in member nations have been criticised to be ineffective and unsuccessful in achieving its objectives. This thesis examines the role of the IMF conditionality over the last two decades, and incorporates case studies on three Latin American countries -Argentina, Brazil and Mexico during the debt crisis in the 1980s. A critical assessment is made with regard to the impact and results of the IMF prescriptions for the selected Latin American economies. The IMF is almost consistently found to implement a similar set of economic policies to these nations. The thesis will look into the implications of the IMF approach towards correcting economic difficulties and explore a variety of policy alternatives.