The International Monetary Fund imposes policy conditions upon Sierra Leone in exchange for loans. The country's president, however, shapes these policies into tools for his domestic struggle to control strongmen‐politicians active in the informal (black) market. The president seeks political gain by manipulating creditor demands that he promote foreign in‐vestment. This internal dynamic of “reform” does not accomplish creditors' public aims of supporting stronger state institutions. But creditors acquiesce in some of the president's manipulations of reforms when they generate arrears payments. Ironically, Sierra Leone's president proves able to translate creditor and foreign investor demands into political resources in his effort to bolster his extremely weak political au