Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers: A Poor Package for Poverty Reduction

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) claim that the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) signal a new approach to tackling the challenges of poverty alleviation and economic development among their low-income clients. Launched in September 1999, the PRSP has replaced the old tripartite Policy Framework Paper (PFP) drawn up between the IMF, World Bank and a country government for concessional loans.i Both the IMF and the World Bank are expected to align their respective lending programmes to a country’s PRSP: in the case of the IMF, the Poverty Reduction Growth Facility (PRGF)–the old Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF)–and the Financial Programming Framework are expected to derive from the PRSP; with the World Bank, the Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) and all loans and grants must be based o­n the PRSP.