The Structural Adjustment Program Project

After Zambia gained political independence their economy was doing better. Their economy was surrounded around their primary natural resource, copper. As copper sales went up, new medical buildings and schools were built, they had a promising textile industry and things were looking up. Until an unexpected rise in the price of oil in tandem with the dropping prices of copper forced Zambia to borrow from the IMF and world banks at extremely high interest rates. Soon Zambia found itself in a mountain of unpayable debts and to repay creditors, spending was cut to education and health and other infrastructure projects. Eventually all of the progress they have made goes to waste as it can not be maintained. Foreign countries currently dictate the economic policy via structural adjustment, i.e. policies that “should” increase revenue and allow them to pay the loans off. This inevitably leads to a country that is so dependent on foreign aid because their own industries have been destroyed by foreign influences.

From a perilous beginning, Bangladesh has attained notable advancements in economic and social development in about four decades. Since it won its independent in 1971 following a bloody war, many, in the international community were doubtful about the country’s long-term economic sustainability. Some observers predicted a state of continuing aid dependency, while others believed if a country with such enormous and innumerable development problems as Bangladesh could make strides in development, then possibly other developing countries could as

Though Burundi’s largest industry is agriculture,, accounting for 65% of the GDP. It’s biggest resource industry is coffee, and other agriculture includes bananas, sweet potatoes, hides, tea, sorghum and maize. According to the World Food Programme, about 56% of children under five years of age suffer from chronic malnutrition, which makes the country dependent on aid from foreign countries. (Wikipedia)

Burundi is a small country that is located in Eastern Africa with a huge population. It borders with Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Congo. Burundi is most known for its two tribes, which are the Hutu and Tutsi. The history of the two tribes has not been the same after the European colonists arrived in my country. Like most countries in Africa, Burundi gained its independence from the colonists in 1960s. Burundi has been struggling for a long time because of the impacts that the Europeans left in the country. In 1972, there was a genocide between the two tribes which left

far from being the solution to global economic instability and poverty, these two international institutions are a major problem. For one thing, their lending practice deters growth because the money they loan removes incentives for governments to advance economic freedom, and breeds corruption. For these reasons, the vast majority of recipient countries have been unable to develop fully after depending on these institutions for over 40 years.2

Wal-Mart has been cautious in moving into the international markets. In 1994, Brazil under new leadership was undertaking a new economic reconstruction program that aggressively shrunk monthly inflation rates from 40% to a low of 3%. The sound decreased in inflation rates helped improve the buying power of Brazilians and stimulated many outside companies to make new investments in Brazil.

Since the World Bank’s inception, it has changed from an organization dedicated to wartime recovery to one focused on a variety of projects, including HIV/AIDS treatment, environmental protection, and other methods of to improve quality of life. However, its growth as an international organization has not been without controversy. There have been criticisms regarding its leadership and its practice of loan giving. While the public face of this institution says it is dedicated to improving the quality of life of the impoverished, its actions run counter and have even resulted in economic, social, and environmental degradation. Instead, the World Bank has become another politicized tool for powerful countries to exert its influence on other countries. The World Bank has changed for the worst in its mission to improve international quality of life; however, this can be rectified by increased cooperation between the World Bank and loan acceptors.

If Gambia failed to secure that assistance, it will further hurt its economy because the country was running with deficit and the IMF described the then current economic state of the Gambia as “external and fiscal sustainability are at a grave risk. Moreover, in the absence of urgent action, the social progress made in recent years is also under threat.”

The literature emerging from the African, Latin American, Caribbean and Asian countries that have adopted structural adjustment programmes throws light on the multidimensional of effects at the households’ level.

While recent austerity measures roused the ire of many in Québec, the concept is far from novel in Jamaica. Entering into its fourth decade of austerity policy, the island’s expenditures on debt repayments are double that of health and education combined. In response to the mounting global debt crisis of the late 1970s, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) set forth a series of prescriptions for developing countries in the form of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) upon which the receipt of foreign aid is conditional. This paper seeks to analyze the effects of those prescriptions on the urban poor in three dimensions. First, through a look at the quality and accessibility of housing stock. Following that, a discussion of currency reforms and nutrition status. Finally, a glimpse at how health services have been impacted, followed by some brief policy recommendations. Throughout, this paper illustrates that the implementation of structural adjustment programs has downgraded the status of the urban poor in Jamaica through the persistence of substandard, inaccessible housing, rising imported food costs coupled with rampant malnutrition, and a pronounced decline in health care services.

The World Bank exerts its economic means to provide developing countries with loans to help them reduce poverty and promote development. The World Bank focuses on Global South, especially Africa, offering “champion education” to “Africa’s fast-growing youth population” (World Bank, 2014). The loans support the policy implementation with adequate funds, giving young people more opportunities to access to education, offering universities more funds to maintain the quality of higher education, and attracting more talents to devote themselves in education career. However, the loans are with conditions. Only when the countries accept the conditions and obey the rules, formulating the policy based on the World Bank’s requirements and the ideas that the World Bank advocates, can they receive the funds assistant. This severely violates the sovereignty of the nation. From this view, the World Bank is acting as a dictator, pushing down its ideas, piloting in the

In the periods of 1980s and 1990s the introduction of structural adjustment programmes differently named as economic reconstruction programme, new economic policy, economic adjustment programme and so on in several African, Latin American, Caribbean and Asian countries. The focus of the programme at two levels one is micro level and second is meso level. At micro level programme has been towards liberalizing the markets and creating an environment for global transfer of goods and services. At meso level, the

Considered to be the second poorest countries internationally, Nicaragua is a country faced with the need to rely on economic assistance groups in order to meet both external and internal economic obligations. The idea of aiding other poor countries is one that organizations such as the IMF , the World Bank , the Inter-American Development Bank etc. have in order to aids countries such as Nicaragua in their economic growth. Receiving loans and having to repay them has increasingly become a problem with which poor small countries have had to deal, since in many cases these countries are not able to repay these loans and the money is lost. By further analyzing why Nicaragua has not been able to become an industrialized country even after the economic interference of different organizations I hope to understand and identify why international interference has failed in Nicaragua and ultimately to see if anything further can be done for the country or if it is unlikely that the country will ever grow stably economically.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and verify the influence of the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programs in less developed countries to see whether the IMF truly is the culprit. I used the case of Jamaica to serve me as an example of a developing country that works closely with the International Monetary Funds.

Over three fourths of African states have pursued programs of economic reform through international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank. These financial institutions are centred in western states and push western ideas of economic structures, such as liberalization. Programs of economic reform enacted by these institutions have been viewed as a dominant source of influence, or power, over African economic policy formulation. These institutions are not only using the power of knowledge and the worlds acceptance of liberalization, produced by western schools of thought, these economy reforms also display the interconnectedness of economic, political and social power. It appears when African countries release one form of power the other two are relinquished as well. This paper will argue that because of western IR’s brand of knowledge, which promotes liberal economic ideals, especially the belief that free trade benefits all, the west is able to justify its intervening in foreign economies. Western IR’s monopoly over knowledge hold a powerful position where they posses both the power to define issues impeding upon developing countries and the position to act as the selfless savior assisting these countries. They are not truly assisting as much of their actions benefit western countries more than the country receiving help. This will be seen through examining the case of aid, particularly structural adjustment programs in Africa. The specific case study that