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Structural Adjustment Programs And Its Impact On Ghana 's Human Development

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The 1900s was a time when developed nations flourished through the exploitation of the global south, creating a structure that places developed nations as the key players of the world. Although colonialism came to an end just after the Second World War, it gave birth to a new system called neoliberalism, which encompasses a new form of colonialism. This saw the introduction of transnational institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organization (WTO), and the World Bank. These institutions applied neoliberal policies with the goal of pursuing progress for the global south. These Policies were referred to as structural adjustment programs (SAPS). This paper will argue that neoliberal structural adjustment …show more content…

These policies were implemented in the Global South such as Ghana, who was one of the first African countries to undergo reforms under the Provision National Defence Council (PNDC) regime. The human development index is measurement used to assess countries based on three categories: life expectancy, education and gross national income per capita (UNDP, 2014,p. 2). According to the report by the Untied Nations Development Program, Ghana’s HDI value is ranked at 132 out of 187 countries in 2014. In a time period of 33 years from 1980 to 2013, Ghana’s HDI has been on a slow increase. Life expectancy increased by 8.8 years, years of schooling by 4.0 years and the GNI by 62.2 percent (UNDP, 2014, p. 2). Such increase in a period of 32 years can be seen as slow progress. In my opinion the introduction of structural adjustment policies have placed a blockade on Ghana hindering its human and social development. The government has been focused on repaying its debt to the IMF and World Bank to the point of where they have forgotten about the well being of its citizens.
Ghana after its independence in 1957 became the most prosperous country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ghana’s main source of income was agriculture, which contributed to half of its GDP. With its rapidly

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