Africa And Imf Conditionality

Ghana was one of the first African countries to adopt a comprehensive IMF reform program and the one that has sustained adjustment longest. Yet, questions of Ghana's compliance - to what extent did it comply, how did it manage compliance, what patterns of non-compliance existed, and why? - have not been systematically investigated and remain poorly understood. This book argues that understanding the domestic political environment is crucial in explaining why compliance, or the lack thereof, occurs. Akonor maintains that compliance with IMF conditionality in Ghana has had high political costs and thus, non-compliance occurred once the political survival of a regime was at stake.

Ghana was one of the first African countries to adopt a comprehensive IMF reform program and the one that has sustained adjustment longest. Yet, questions of Ghana's compliance - to what extent did it comply, how did it manage compliance, what patterns of non-compliance existed, and why? - have not been systematically investigated and remain poorly understood. This book argues that understanding the domestic political environment is crucial in explaining why compliance, or the lack thereof, occurs. Akonor maintains that compliance with IMF conditionality in Ghana has had high political costs and thus, non-compliance occurred once the political survival of a regime was at stake.

The accelerated inflation and large payment imbalances that have plagued the world economy in recent years have created new challenges for economic policy. Institutions such as the International Monetary Fund have found themselves operating in a global environment different from that for which they were originally designed, and developing countries have found their aspirations threatened by large increases in their payment deficits. There have been wide disagreements about the most suitable policy responses by developing countries to these problems and about the appropriateness of the stabilization programs favored by the IMF. This book argues that the strong opposition to International Monetary Fund macroeconomics stabilization policies in Africa indicate how difficult and painful it is to put an over-indebted economy on its feet within a short period of time. Contents: Introduction; The Historical Foundation and Theoretical Considerations of the International Monetary Fund: Third World Perspective; The Historical Impact of British Colonial Rule in Nigeria; the Post-Colonial Economy of Nigeria and the National Development Plan; The Origin and Development of the Economic Crisis in Nigeria; the History and Evolution of the IMF, Its Operation and Policy Conditionalities; The IMF, the World Bank and the Sudanese Economy; The International Monetary Fund and the Zambian Debt Problems; African Economic Crisis and the International Monetary Fund Response; The Buhari's Foreign Exchange Regulation: An Alternative to International Monetary Fund Policy Prescriptions; Babangida's Government and the Nature of the International Monetary Fund Involvement in Nigeria; As We See It: Concluding Assessments and Recommendations; Appendix; Bibliography; Index. International Monetary Fund Policy.

Academic Paper from the year 2019 in the subject Economics - International Economic Relations, , language: English, abstract: This work analyzes Africa’s development crisis and the role of external lending institutions conerning the perspective in Nigeria. African countries came out of colonial rule with two major challenges related to achievement of sustainable development and unity in the continent. It decided to pursue unity which was a means to development. However, the prospects of development was inhibited or truncated by the outbreak of inter and intra-state conflicts that followed independence. To rebuild their economies, African countries resorted to borrowing from the Bretton Woods Institutions: the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international financial institutions. To this end, long and short-term loans were given to African leaders who either misapplied the facilities or could not cope with the conditionality associated with economic reform policies. It is in this light that this article interrogates the undercurrents of these conditions attached to the loans on Africa, with insights from the Nigerian experience. It unravels how the application of the loans and the reform policies complicated rather than addressing the developmental malaise that bedevilled post-colonial African states for which the loans were sought for in the first instance. The article further questions the rationale behind the acceptance of these loans by African leaders and why it has consistently favoured borrowing as a means of solving the continent’s development challenges. It recommends, among other options, the evolvement of an alternative funding arrangement from within the continent devoid of external loan trappings. More importantly, having an effective tax system devoid of corruption, purposeful political leadership that will manage the financial sector will help the nation avert similar trend in future. Through these, resources will come from diverse sources that will help the continent develop, since events of the past has proven that these institutions operate loan policies that are not favourable to the developing countries. Above all, efforts should be made to strengthen institutions of government, especially, the anti-corruption and crimes ones to bring about financial accountability regime.

Financial sectors in low-income sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are among the world's least developed. In fact, assets in most low-income African countries are smaller than those held by a single medium-sized bank in an industrial country. The absence of deep, efficient financial markets seriously challenges policy making, hinders poverty alleviation, and constrains growth. This book argues that building efficient and sound financial sectors in SSA countries will improve Africa's economic prospects. Based on a review of the key features of financial systems, it discusses the main obstacles and challenges that financial structures pose for SSA economies and recommends steps that could address major shortcomings in implementing the reform agenda.