Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

1-1-1994

First Page

1

Last Page

24

Keywords

Economic reform, Structural adjustment, African countries

Abstract / Description

A recent World Bank study on Adjustment in Africa assessed at some length the extent to which economic policy reforms were implemented in 29 countries that had introduced structural adjustment programs in the 1980s. The study found that the record of implementation was mixed and that only six countries had brought about large improvements in macroeconomic policies, nine experienced minor improvement and eleven deteriorated. Countries that improved their policies, however, had a pay-off in terms of higher per capita GDP growth, large exports, faster agriculture and industrial sector. The progress in respect of public enterprise reform, financial sector reform and public sector management has been even less marked. The case studies of adjustment experiences in seven African countries--Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and Tanzania--corroborate these findings confirming the intermittent, patchy or uneven course of implementation. One of the successful countries, Nigeria, recently decided to reverse the policy reforms it had introduced in 1986.

Comments

IH0482

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