Loans to third world nations are often initiated through the World Bank or the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). While both of these institutions are global in nature, and ostensibly owned by the world at large, the biggest player in both of these funds is the United States, in which the USA has the highest percentage of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) which is essentially a claim on currency held by the IMF, and the United States also has the highest percentage of total votes at 16.75% in which the 2nd highest voting percentage is Japan at 6.23%. For all intents and purposes, the World Bank and IMF are controlled by the richest countries in the world and they know it.
Although the IMF and the World Bank will not state it, their real purpose in providing loans to third world countries is for those countries to then develop a lot of debt in the creation of their infrastructure and in the process of scaling up in order to increase their exports, in which that debt created must be serviced by the IMF or the World Bank and failure by those countries to adhere to repayment terms of their debt will effectively cede control of their economies to the IMF and to the World Bank.
Clearly, the money that is lent to the third world countries has strings attached. Not too surprisingly, since the money and capital is controlled by interests outside of the country, the particular impoverished third world country will agree to what they have to agree to in order to bring the possibility of prosperity and fair employment to their citizens. Often these agreements, work out quite favorably for the money interests but not too well for the country that is receiving the financial aid.
There are two fundamental problems that third world countries have with loans. The first is the corruption which is endemic in so many of these countries which is aided, abetted, and encouraged by outside interests as it is far easier and more cost efficient to take care of a few well-placed individuals and organizations within a third world country rather than trying to help establish a well-balanced and stable democracy. The second issue is fundamental to interest payments in general, which is, that it is difficult, well-nigh impossible sometimes, to properly service a large loan over a period of time without either defaulting outright on the loan or simply not being able to meet its stringent and strict time demands.
The IMF and the World Bank are not charities and they don't treat their loans as charity. They are, in fact, the tribute that third world countries must pay homage to, and for too many of these poor, impoverished nations, they will recognize over time that for all intents and purposes, their poor people remain poor, and they are effectively plundered with the rich nations reaping the benefits of the third world's sweat labor and the carrot on a stick usury game.