Structural Adjustment in Sub-Saharan Africa

Structural Adjustment in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF

Author: Robert Lensink

Publisher: Longman Publishing Group

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13:

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Offers an overview of the debate on adjustment programmes financed by the Wold Bank and the IMF in Africa during the 1980s. Compares Africa with several other developing regions. Describes the structure of the World Bank and the IMF, and their credit facilities for financing adjustments.

Africa's Adjustment and Growth in the 1980s

Africa's Adjustment and Growth in the 1980s PDF

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13:

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This report offers new perspectives on sub-Saharan Africa's economic experience in the 1980s. That experience is often perceived as one of crisis and decline caused largely by hostile external factors. By putting Africa's extraordinary difficulties in the 1980s in a longer-term and global perspective, the report suggests that external factors may have been less hostile than supposed and less culpable in explaining the crisis. Moreover, the report shows emerging signs of economic improvement since the mid-1980s. This different view of the 1980s puts Africa's future in a fresh perspective - with a brighter prospect of recovery and growth. The report suggests that programs of economic reform and adjustment have helped African countries begin to improve their economic performance. Between 1983 and 1988, over half the countries of the region began, one after the other, to initiate policy reforms to favor increased efficiency in the use of scarce resources and to strengthen their competitiveness. This wave of reform arose largely from the crisis facing Africa. But an important feature of the movement toward policy reform and orderly structural adjustment is that Africans accepted the principal responsibility for their economic decisions and destiny.

Policies for African Development

Policies for African Development PDF

Author: I. G. Patel

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 1992-12-15

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 155775232X

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Despite economic hardships during the past 20 years, Africa has recently enjoyed positive real economic growth, transformed its economic structures and systems, and improved living standards. Much of this owes to the determined pursuit of growth-oriented adjustment efforts, with IMF support, by nearly 30 African countries. Edited by I.G. Patel, this volume discusses progress made by Africa in the 1980s and prospects and needs for continued development in the 1990s.

Africa's Infrastructure

Africa's Infrastructure PDF

Author: World Bank

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2009-12-01

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 0821380834

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Sustainable infrastructure development is vital for Africa s prosperity. And now is the time to begin the transformation. This volume is the culmination of an unprecedented effort to document, analyze, and interpret the full extent of the challenge in developing Sub-Saharan Africa s infrastructure sectors. As a result, it represents the most comprehensive reference currently available on infrastructure in the region. The book covers the five main economic infrastructure sectors information and communication technology, irrigation, power, transport, and water and sanitation. 'Africa s Infrastructure: A Time for Transformation' reflects the collaboration of a wide array of African regional institutions and development partners under the auspices of the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa. It presents the findings of the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD), a project launched following a commitment in 2005 by the international community (after the G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland) to scale up financial support for infrastructure development in Africa. The lack of reliable information in this area made it difficult to evaluate the success of past interventions, prioritize current allocations, and provide benchmarks for measuring future progress, hence the need for the AICD. Africa s infrastructure sectors lag well behind those of the rest of the world, and the gap is widening. Some of the main policy-relevant findings highlighted in the book include the following: infrastructure in the region is exceptionally expensive, with tariffs being many times higher than those found elsewhere. Inadequate and expensive infrastructure is retarding growth by 2 percentage points each year. Solving the problem will cost over US$90 billion per year, which is more than twice what is being spent in Africa today. However, money alone is not the answer. Prudent policies, wise management, and sound maintenance can improve efficiency, thereby stretching the infrastructure dollar. There is the potential to recover an additional US$17 billion a year from within the existing infrastructure resource envelope simply by improving efficiency. For example, improved revenue collection and utility management could generate US$3.3 billion per year. Regional power trade could reduce annual costs by US$2 billion. And deregulating the trucking industry could reduce freight costs by one-half. So, raising more funds without also tackling inefficiencies would be like pouring water into a leaking bucket. Finally, the power sector and fragile states represent particular challenges. Even if every efficiency in every infrastructure sector could be captured, a substantial funding gap of $31 billion a year would remain. Nevertheless, the African people and economies cannot wait any longer. Now is the time to begin the transformation to sustainable development.

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