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| Title: | Globalization, debt and development in southern Africa: problems and prospects |
| Author: | Chikulo, Bornwell C. |
| Book title: | Globalization, democracy and development in Africa: challenges and prospects |
| Year: | 2001 |
| Pages: | 143-162 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Africa Southern Africa |
| Subjects: | external debt global economy economic recession |
| Abstract: | The debt crisis in Africa has its genesis in the major events which shook the world economy during the early 1980s. Many African countries were forced to resort to foreign borrowing to finance their balance of payments disequilibria. Subsequently, these countries were confronted with falling world prices for their primary exports and escalating rates of interest on their loans. The structural adjustment programmes (SAP) implemented by almost all southern African countries in the 1990s were the IMF/World Bank solution for the worsening socioeconomic crisis. However, economic performance in the region has been weak, with sluggish growth of only 2 percent between 1980 and 1996. The SAPs have generated adverse social effects and weakened the State's internal structures. Debt, declining aid and inability to attract outside foreign direct investment indicate the difficulties entailed by integration into the global economy. The high external debt and debt-servicing obligations of southern African countries continue to severely limit the resources available for investment in sustainable development. There is an obvious need to control and manage debt, and to this end a number of debt relief initiatives have been undertaken, most recently the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Bibliogr. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
