Global: Watchdog faults IMF loan conditions

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) continues to burden its borrowers with superfluous demands despite efforts to streamline loans, an internal watchdog has found. "Progress had been made in better aligning IMF conditionality to its core areas of responsibility and expertise, but about one-third of conditions continued to reach outside these areas," said Tom Bernes, director of the fund's Independent Evaluation Office.