Development Prospects and Policy for Africa: Structural Adjustment and Beyond

Abstract

Africa’s economic recovery in the 1990s, though somewhat fragile, is very encouraging. Policy reforms, primarily in the form of SAPs, have led to improved economic performance. However, as we approach the post-SAPs era of the 21st century, African countries need to intensify efforts in the pursuit of sound policies and further structural reforms. Much higher growth rates, exceeding 7 percent annually, are deemed as necessary to be attained and maintained over a longer period for there to be meaningful reductions in poverty. This paper has advocated a set of policy areas which need to be given priority in Africa as the 21st century approaches. African countries are in a better position now, than anytime since the crisis of the 1980s, to build a path toward sustainable development. In that regard, maintaining market-oriented policy reforms remains the imperative for the immediate future and beyond. It is now up to Africa’s leaders to provide the requisite leadership for a home-grown, rather than donor driven, attempt at sustainable socio-economic development.