Governance Matters: The IMF and Sub-Saharan Africa

This chapter examines the IMF's relationship with Sub-Saharan Africa, explaining the political pressures which have shaped the Fund's engagement with countries on the continent. It explores the way powerful donor countries have affected this relationship from both within and from outside the IMF, as well as non-governmental organizations. Within these political forces, the IMF has struggled to shape economic programs for its borrowing members. Equally challenging for the institution has been negotiating politics within borrowing countries. As a result the institution faces two powerful ongoing challenges: reconciling greater 'ownership' by its low-income borrowers with the mission defined by its most powerful shareholders; and working out the relationship of its work to that of the World Bank and other institutions in an increasingly complex aid architecture.