Definition of "tightening"

There are lingering feelings among some board members, especially in the developing world, that the fund joined with the United States and other wealthy countries in demanding overly austere budget cuts and other fiscal tightenings for the countries that were bailed out in the previous decade.

2007 September 28, Steven R. Weisman, “I.M.F. Faces a Question of Identity”, in New York Times‎