Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home Africana Periodical Literature Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Public Enterprise Reform in Africa: Lessons from Experience
Author:Lungu, Gatian F.ISNI
Year:1997
Periodical:Africanus
Volume:27
Issue:2
Pages:34-44
Language:English
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:economic policy
public enterprises
Politics and Government
Development and Technology
Economics and Trade
Abstract:When structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) were introduced in Africa in the late 1970s, the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, public enterprises, together with the civil service, became central concerns for reform. This article analyses the reforms undertaken by African governments with regard to public enterprises in general, and draws some lessons from the outcomes over the past decade and a half (1980-1995). Between 1980 and 1991, 34 African countries undertook World Bank-IMF-related structural adjustment programmes, of which public enterprise reform has been a large component. However, some of the main objectives of reform in this sector, namely to revitalize African economies, reduce foreign debt, and develop a vibrant, private sectored economy, have not materialized to any significant degree. The lessons that can be learned are that privatization and liberalization policies that favour a private-sector driven economy make sense only in an economy conditioned by a strong tradition of private enterprise. Bibliogr.
Views
Cover