The sap approach has generated considerable debate within african countries and development circles. Development politics publish your bachelors or masters thesis, dissertation, term paper or essay. However the adjustment programmes have had limited impact on economic growth and poverty reduction due to a number of factors. The gendered impacts of structural adjustment programs in africa christina gladwin, university of florida, presiding impacts of structural adjustment programs on african women farmers and femaleheaded households jean m. Structural adjustment is the name given to a set of free market economic policy reforms imposed on developing countries by the bretton woods institutions the world bank and international monetary fund imf as a condition for receipt of loans. Ecomomic policy and development issues, particularly structural adjustment programmes saps have dominated african womens concerns because they have been implicated in the rise of poverty, especially of women, in africa. The standard justification for world bank structural adjustment lending is that reforms have shortrun costs and foreign assistance can help reforms get launched by alleviating these costs. Newsrescue below is a brief background of the events that led many countries to accept saps. This study tries to estimate the impacts of saps on a variety of poverty.
The process of achieving the set objectives of structural adjustment programme sap produced adverse social effects that put to question the sincerity of purpose of the sap policy designers and implementers. External resources, however, also reduce the cost of doing nothing, that is avoiding reform. Structural adjustment structural adjustments are the policies implemented by the international monetary fund imf and the world bank the bretton woods institutions in developing countries. Structural adjustment and african industry springerlink. The impact of economic structural adjustment programs.
Lessons from structural adjustment programmes and their effects in africa, quarterly journal of international agriculture, humboldtuniversitaat zu berlin, vol. African scholars and international ngos concerned with africas development have asked whether the policies. To assist african development, structural adjustment programmes saps provided conditional lending thomson, 2010. The impact of economic structural adjustment programs esaps. Mar 01, 2015 anyinam, spatial implications of structural adjustment programmes in ghana, 450.
What explains the success or failure of structural. Structural adjustment programmes adversely affect vulnerable. Several studies have since found adverse health effects associated with structural adjustment 212. The effects of structural adjustment products cut across a number of sectors in the kenyan society, however this paper will focus on the effects of structural adjustment programs on education, health, agriculture, and politics. This article also gives a short analysis of the roles of the world bank, the imf and the local political elites in this process. Kingston, kato gogo, the impacts of the world bank and imf structural adjustment programmes on africa. The effects adjustment in ghana of the structural program on deforestation j. Structural adjustment in subsaharan africa english the. The impact of structural adjustment programmes saps on. The leading role of the imf has proven problematic in many ways.
How the imfworld bank and structural adjustment programsap. Whereas africa accounts for one tenth of the world population, it generates almost half of the worlds displaced people and refugees most of whom are women and children. To be able to generate conclusions concerning how the politics of enhancing the wellbeing of the people via sap played. There are many examples of structural adjustments failing. The impact of structural adjustment programs on the. Economic growth in african countries in the 1980s and 1990s fell below the rates of previous decades. The two bretton woods institutions require borrowing countries to implement certain policies in order to obtain new loans or to lower interest rates on existing ones. Kenya was among the first nations to receive a structural adjustment loan from the world bank, back in 1980. These policy changes are conditions for getting new loans from the international monetary fund imf or world bank, or for obtaining lower interest rates on existing loans. Structural adjustment programmes in subsaharan africa econstor. Jan 31, 2012 conditionalities are implemented to ensure that the money lent will be spent in accordance with the overall goals of the loan. The role of the structural adjustment program in africas. While the content and policy thrust of these programmes is different, they all have one common element.
Zambia, for example, having abandoned a structural adjustment programme in the wake ofthe riots on. Structural adjustment programsthe purpose, structure, and effect the imf and world bank history even though considerable factors stood in the way of africas economic success, key. The impacts of the world bank and imf structural adjustment programmes on africa. Structural adjustment programs saps consist of loans provided by the international monetary fund imf and the world bank wb to countries that experienced economic crises. A survey of the impacts of imf structural adjustment in. The argument from the proponents of foreign assistance. Structural adjustmenta major cause of poverty global issues. May 26, 2009 the results of structural adjustment programmes despite the imf and world bank claims of sap successes, it is widely acknowledged that saps have failed to achieve their goals. A survey of the impacts of imf structural adjustment in africa. In africa, instead of making economies grow fast, structural adjustment actually had a contractive impact in most countries.
Gladwin the structural adjustment programs saps initiated by the international monetary fund imf. Indeed, if africa could leverage its primary commodities to industrialise through value addition and succeed in linking the commodity sector to the rest of the economy, the 21st century could very well be africas. The impact of structural adjustment programmes in africa. The remarks that follow focus mainly on the difficulties of the poorest developing countries, primarily in subsaharan africa. Lessons from structural adjustment programmes and their effects in africa 57. The effects of structural adjustment programs on poverty. Sacha journal of policy and strategic studies, vol. The effects of structural adjustment programs on poverty and income distribution by doris a.
The impact of structural adjustment programmes on zimbabwes public health sector a case study tsitsi muvunzi masters thesis politics international politics topic. The case study of cote divoire, senegal, uganda, and zimbabwe 2011. Impact of structural adjustment programs on agricultural competitiveness and regional trade african economic policy discussion paper number 37 december 2000 abdoul w. Coupled with the failure of the hipc initiative to substantially reduce debt service burdens in africa, the record of the imf on debt reduction and growth strongly suggests that future efforts to significantly reduce and cancel debt for subsaharan africa should take place outside of the framework of imf structural adjustment. Such a failure rate may undermine the potential usefulness of the instrument. It describes how saps are being implemented and what results they have produced over the past 20 years. Lynn salinger and selina pandolfi associates for international resources and development funded by. Structural adjustment in subsaharan africa english abstract. Structural adjustment policies and africa a reply to. The economic structural adjustment programme esap is a neoliberal marketdriven policy measure adopted in zimbabwe as a prescriptive solution to the economic crisis of the 1980s. The structural adjustment programs saps are created with the goal of reducing the borrowing countrys fiscal imbalances. The impact of saps on africa also remains a matter of intense debate.
However, during the 1980s, kenya was notorious for its noncompliance on implementing saps even after agreeing to them and taking the associated loan money. Saps of the international monetary fund imf on poverty and income distribution. They have not created wealth and economic development as unregulated markets did not benefit the poor and failed to protect the delivery of social services. Pdf the impacts of the world bank and imf structural. According to opev programme performance evaluation reports, they are all. The case study of cote divoire, senegal, uganda, and zimbabwe article pdf available.
How the imfworld bank and structural adjustment program. The impact of structural adjustment programmes saps on education in kenya isaac. Over the years, many analysts have despaired of the effects of structural adjustment on the economies of subsaharan africa. Konaduagyemang, imf and world bank sponsored structural adjustment programs in africa, 36. In return, recipient countries are required to reform various macro. Impacts of structural adjustment programs on african. These policy changes are conditions for getting new loans from the international monetary fund imf or world bank, or for obtaining lower interest rates on. The effect of structural adjustment programmes on the delivery of veterinary services in africa 3 officially recognized as part of the animal health delivery system.
Structural adjustment programmes adversely affect vulnerable populations. The impacts of the world bank and imf structural adjustment. Barbier this paper is a theoretical and empirical investigation into the impact of the structural adjustment program sap on forest loss in ghana between the period 196595, an optimal. Therefore, the conventional structuraladjustment programmes emphasised liberalisation, deregulation and privatisation. Lessons from structural adjustment programmes and their effects in. Structural adjustment programmes saps or economic recovery programmes erps are similar in their essential components. Esap was never ideal for zim celebrating being zimbabwean. The genesis of the structural adjustment programmes. The impact of structural adjustment programs saps on the performance of sub saharan africa ssa has been deeply investigated and, despite what the international monetary fund imf and the world bank claimed, adjustment policies have often had a negative impact on the poorest and most vulnerable sections of the regions population. Africa action, an organization working for political, economic and social justice in africa is highly critical of saps, noting that, the basic assumption behind structural adjustment was that an increased role for the market would bring benefits to both poor and rich. Saps were developed in the early 1980s as a means of gaining stronger. Particularly in the 1980s and 1990s, when many structuraladjustment programmes were drafted, the fund and its macroeconomically trained experts took over the.
The world bank, the international monetary fund and western donors developed and advocated structural adjustment programmes saps, which emphasised macroeconomic stabilisation, privatisation and free market development. At least some structural adjustment programmes have had negative effects on the quality oflift ofafrican people. The need for fundamental reforms to arrest economic and social decline and to provide a sound basis for promoting sustainable economic growth has been recognized. In general, adjustment meant liberalising and privatising, although saps were wider in scope in that their developmental aims were. Kadenge published by sapes books, 2000 isbn1779050992. In general, adjustment meant liberalising and privatising, although saps were wider in scope in that their developmental aims were highly political. One reason, for example, that reformers might welcome a commitment technology is to convince private investors that policy change is permanent. Lessons from structural adjustment programs and their effects in africa article pdf available in quarterly, journal of international agriculture 50. Consequences of structural adjustment policies on the poor. Effects of structural adjustment in southern africa by j. However, if onethird of adjustment programs fail and in. The international monetary fund imf and world bank wb capitalist model of development operationalized through economic structural adjustment. In the darwinian world of international markets, the strongest would win out.
After independence, kenya had been making remarkable progress in the education sector. The impact of structural adjustment programmes on zimbabwes. Comparative analysis of structural adjustment programs in africa with emphasis on agriculture and trade, regional trade agenda series. Did structural adjustment programmes assist african development. The case study of cote divoire, senegal, uganda, and zimbabwe article pdf available november 2011 with. These structural reforms were meant to liberalise the economy, broaden and diversify the production base towards nonprimary.
Jan, 2015 to assist african development, structural adjustment programmes saps provided conditional lending thomson, 2010. Original article by shantayanan devarajan, structural adjustment programmes worked in africa 2. Malawi has been implementing structural adjustment reforms since 1981 in search of a way to revive its declining economic growth triggered by the oil shocks and general world economic recession of the mid and late 1970s. The economy has been liberalized, and the macroeconomic situation has improved considerably. I find no evidence for a direct effect of structural adjustment on growth. This chapter presents an overview of the structural adjustment policies and economic performance, andoutlines a new approach to poverty reduction strategies. The poor benefit less from output expansion in countries with many adjustment loans than in countries with few.
Lessons from structural adjustment programmes and their. What explains the success or failure of structural adjustment. Experience of the countries implementing structural reforms during the early phases had not. In general, adjustment meant liberalising and privatising, although saps were wider in scope in that their. Structural adjustment loans are provided to countries in dire fiscal or macroeconomic straits. The bank from which a borrowing country receives its loan depends upon the type of necessity. Oberdabernig abstract the focus of this work is to measure the effects of structural adjustment programs saps of the international monetary fund imf on poverty and income distribution. Pdf lessons from structural adjustment programs and. Since the theory of structural adjustment programmes saps has industrial growth, manufacturing in particular, at the centre of its argument for reviving economic growth, this paper primarily aims at establishing whether or not the claim that structural adjustments lead to manufacturing growth has been applicable to malawi. The effect of imf and world bank programs on poverty. The structural adjustment program in developing economies. Abstract the imf and world bank have over the years gained a stronghold in african economic policies. Anyinam, spatial implications of structural adjustment programmes in ghana, 450. The structural adjustment policies adopted by the developing countries including bangladesh have been prompted by considerations of achieving macroeconomic balances and by the need for acceleration of economic growth through greater reliance on markets.
The emphasis on sustainable growth implies, however, that adjustment involves medium and. The impact of structural adjustment policies saps on. Since zambia embarked on its structural adjustment program in late 1991, much has been accomplished. For subsaharan africa, the regression of the four poverty indicators on program. Box 30l97 nairobi, kenya abstract since the 1980s, kenya has had to undertake macroeconomic adjustment programs under the. The effects of structural adjustment programmes econstor. The effects of structural adjustment programs on poverty and. Structural adjustment in subsaharan africa english. During the past decade, most countries in africa have undertaken structural adjustment programs saps of one form or another, which involved i currency. Did structural adjustment programmes assist african. Shortcomings and weaknesses of the structuraladjustment. The latter term became more current in the aftermath ofgrowing popular resistance to the implementation of the former. Agriculture suffered as state support was radically withdrawn. Pdf after independence around 1960, african countries started with high.
Konaduagyemang, imf and world bank sponsored structural adjustment programs in africa, 25. Impact of saps on health care facilities and personnel. Structural adjustment, as measured by the number of adjustment loans from the imf and world bank, reduces the growth elasticity of pov erty reduction. The negative effects of mistaken industrial, trade and exchange rate policies on the development of productive potential in africa were concealed, until the. The impact of the policies advocated by the world bank and the international monetary fund imf in africa are under increased scrutiny.
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