Recent Changes of IMF Conditionality and Its Effects on Social Spending
Recent Changes of IMF Conditionality and Its Effects on Social Spending

Summary/Abstract: The IMF programs have been long criticized for having adverse effects on social spending. Yet, on the onset of the global financial crisis, it has undergone major changes aiming at streamlining its conditionality by introducing novel arrangements and methods to safeguard spending on health and education. Thus, the paper seeks to reveal whether the reforms have been effective and produced real change of IMF conditionality through analysing primary documents, scholarly appraisals of IMF conditionality regarding social spending. Then, by applying “before-after” approach to the most recent database of monitoring of Fund arrangements, the article concludes that the IMF after 30 years of imposing neoliberal views through conditionality has achieved notable improvement, since it streamlined conditionality in non-core areas of its mandate and introduced measures to protect social spending in low-income countries.

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