Economic Reforms and Restructuring in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Overview

Abstract

As the economies of most Sub‐Saharan countries stagnated, especially in the early 1980s, it became necessary to reform and restructure these economies. The financial sector received a major part of this attention and so did infrastructure, where programmes of deregulation and privatisation with regulation were implemented. This paper presents an overview of the set of papers appearing in the current volume on these reforms. For the financial sector, the following subjects are covered: (i) the relationship between the development of financial markets and macroeconomic policy; (ii) a report card on the African experience in financial liberalisation, vis‐à‐vis the rest of the developing world; (iii) a comprehensive review of the literature and new empirical evidence on financial development and economic growth; and (iv) an account of recent developments in African financial markets, with an emphasis on the need for further research. For the regulation/deregulation of the infrastructure, the experience of the transport sector is first provided, followed by the presentation of a framework for understanding the regulatory failures of recent privatisations in many African countries, especially in the light of corruption. An overriding message emanating from this volume is the importance of the quality of institutions in ensuring the success of economic reforms.

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