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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Africa and Structural Adjustment: The Need for Sustained Approach
Author:Vasudevan, Parvathi
Year:1999
Periodical:African Currents
Volume:14
Issue:27
Period:April
Pages:11-28
Language:English
Geographic terms:Subsaharan Africa
Africa
Subjects:economic policy
Economics and Trade
Development and Technology
Politics and Government
Abstract:The process of instituting macroeconomic reforms accompanied by microeconomic management programmes in sub-Saharan Africa is mandatory for the recovery of the subcontinent. However, the projected gains of countries undergoing the rigours of stabilization processes and structural adjustment programmes (SAP) will initially fall below expectations, since all problems related to long-term structural transformation require effective State intervention and call for a manifold increase in the State's institutional capacities. For successful adjustment to be sustained, governments must define, or possibly redefine, the legal, fiscal, and monetary framework within which all sectors of the economy operate. It is the African governments which bear primary responsibility for securing favourable international economic arrangements. At the same time, donor domination in the guise of monitoring cannot be ruled out. The author explores the inevitability of stabilization and SAP measures for Africa, following the failure of the import-substituting industrialization strategy of development adopted by the first generation of African leaders and continued by most of their successors. She concludes that the commitment 'to adjust' needs to be overwhelmingly strengthened, both from inside and outside the continent.
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