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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The failure of two decades of structural adjustment in Zambia
Author:Havnevik, Kjell J.ISNI
Year:1992
Periodical:Nytt från Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
Issue:29
Pages:23-41
Language:English
Geographic term:Zambia
Subject:economic policy
Abstract:A major focus of the structural adjustment policies introduced in Zambia over the last two decades has been to diversify the economy and exports. Central to this endeavour has been a shift from a copper dependent economy to one in which agriculture was to play a more dominant role. After outlining the characteristic features of the Zambian economy and the background to and early phases of structural adjustment, in particular the adjustment initiatives of the 1973-1983 period, the author examines in turn the period of orthodox adjustment, 1983-1987, and the effects of devaluation, liberalization and expenditure reduction, with particular reference to subsidies, social sector developments and increased income inequalities; the efforts of home-grown adjustment, 1987-1989; and the new round of IMF/World Bank adjustment, 1989-1991, which prescribed the same strategy for agricultural development as in the 1983-1987 period, complemented this time by a Public Investment Programme and a Social Action Programme. The author concludes that after two decades the major objectives of structural adjustment in Zambia have not been attained. The Zambian experience shows, moreover, that the adjustment policies had only a limited chance of being implemented. They were basically incorrectly designed as a result of the international financial institutions' lack of understanding of the Zambian economic, political and social context, on the one hand, and the interests pursued by these institutions, on the other. Bibliogr.
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