The UK’s Department for International Development is withholding £50m from the World Bank in protest at conditionality imposed on loans. The Bank says that conditionality is important in order to ensure that the money is well spent.

On the whole, conditionality has failed to achieve its objectives. Governments need to feel ownership of a reform programme. Too often conditions are imposed and then implemented half-heartedly (causing unnecessary damage) or are just ignored. There are exceptions: World Bank support of Ghana has been very successful. When Ghana started taking Bank advice in 1983, the country had been suffering from an unstable economy over many years. Ever since, the economy has been posting good economic growth and is seen today as one of the most successful African economies. But the point about this is that the reform programme is something Ghana wanted to do.

Instead of tying conditions, the World Bank should follow a policy of only giving budgetary support to governments that meet certain minimum criteria for governance, and then support other governments in a bottom-up approach, such as through domestic NGOs.