South Africa’s Economic Reforms

Abstract

The fear of many policy-makers is that the sub-continent, by virtue of a combination of events, many of them in the form of external shocks and political upheavals, has been marginalised. The crisis in Africa has been characterised by stagnating or negative economic growth, balance-of-payments difficulties, fiscal problems, sluggish agricultural growth and rapid population growth. Many countries have undertaken structural adjustment programmes, often at the behest of the World Bank and IMF, and often in a climate of crisis but with the hope that these programmes could not worsen the economic situation. The verdict is still out on the efficacy of these programmes for Africa.