Point of View: Economic structural Adjustment Programme

Abstract

The 1960s were the period of independence for most countries in Africa. By the ·early 1970s, African countries began to experience serious economic crisis which became aggravated throughout the 1980s. Although these crisis arose basically from the structural deficiencies of the African economies, they were nevertheless perceived in terms of internal and external financial imbalances: deteriorating terms of trade increasing budget deficits, and depletion of external reserves. Consequently, and at the insistence of and with the help, of international financial and development institutions, African governments' response was focused primarily
on bringing about internal and external financial balances. Thus, as far back as the 1970s, an increasing number of African countries began to put in place, stabilisation programs, and from 1980, Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP ), in particular. Between 1980 and 1988, thirty-three, African countries had concluded Standby arrangement Facility and twelve  had Extended Fund Facility from International Monetary Fund (IMF), and fifteen had Structural Adjustment Loans from the World Bank .