So an IMF loan would be useful. It might be any number of things. It could be for example that wages had been increasing too rapidly. This could create an excess in demand - for cars perhaps. If local factories were unable to produce a sufficient number then the demand would have to be met by drawing in imports.
Governments can try to reduce demand.
One way is to increase taxes to reduce spending power. But tax increases can take time before they affect people s behaviour. Certainly much longer than it would take to block imports of Japanese cars using quotas. An IMF loan will help to smooth the process out IMF loans in the early years went to developed countries that were in temporary difficulties. And for this purpose they worked reasonably well.