Adjustment, Investment and the Real Exchange Rate in Developing Countries

Abstract

LDC adjustment packages Riccardo Faini and Jaime de Melo Developing countries have been hit by a fall in their terms of trade, high real interest rates on their external debt, and a drought in commercial lending from abroad. Their subsequent adjustment packages, often supported by loans from the IMF and World Bank, focused on a sharp real exchange rate depreciation to restore external balance and a host of microeconomic reforms to secure a simultaneous supply-side improvement. This paper examines the success of these ‘adjustment with growth’ packages in a large sample of developing countries. We find these packages have been much more successful in LDCs which export manufactures than they have in those concentrating on primary exports (primarily low-income African countries); the latter have not resumed sustainable growth, and most of their external adjustment has arisen from expenditure reduction, not an increase in supply. The longer-term prospects for manufacturing exporters are also brighter: there we detect signs of increased efficiency and a smaller decline in investment than in primary exporters. But we also find that a high external debt burden and an unstable macroeconomic environment impede investment in all LDCs. In the longer term, adjustment with growth packages will succeed only if they are accompanied by a more stable macroeconomic environment and appropriate debt relief.