Should Policy-Based Lending Still Involve Conditionality?

Stefan G. Koeberle

The World Bank Research Observer, 2003, vol. 18, issue 2, 249-273

Abstract: Traditional conditionality in policy-based lending is often criticized as being ineffective, intrusive, and corrosive. Disillusionment has led to proposals to replace ex ante conditionality with ex post conditionality and to focus on ownership, selectivity, and partnerships. This article reviews experiences with conditionality in the World Bank's policy-based lending and explores the benefits and drawbacks of various approaches. It argues that conditionality should play a central role in policy-based lending--but cannot substitute for country ownership and good policies. Moreover, an exclusive focus on conditionality based on ex ante commitments or ex post results may not be practical or useful for the Bank's policy-based lending. Thus a key recommendation is to use conditionality selectively, tailored to country circumstances. Indeed, an eclectic mix of traditional and new approaches is already being used--with programmatic policy-based lending offering a particularly promising way to reconcile the debate between the traditional ex ante approach and the aspirations of a results-based approach to conditionality. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.

Date: 2003
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:wbrobs:v:18:y:2003:i:2:p:249-273

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The World Bank Research Observer is currently edited by Peter Lanjouw

More articles in The World Bank Research Observer from World Bank Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().