Structural Adjustment Programs

1005 Words5 Pages
Since the early 1980's, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, have implemented economic policies known as Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs), designed to assist developing countries to emerge from the debt crisis, SAPs were established as a conditionality for the re-scheduling of existing loans as well as granting further loans to Third World countries. This conditionality is a set of obligations undertaken by developing countries in order to obtain aid. There are two types of policies established as prerequisites for access to loans. These are stabilization and structural adjustment. Stabilization involves short term measures to restore balance of payments, while structural adjustment measures are implemented on a longer term basis, to restructure the economy and generate economic growth. These policies are closely linked and usually involve devaluation of currency, cuts in public spending, elimination of subsidies, cuts in the civil service, privatization of state owned industries, opening of local economies to foreign investment and an emphasis on export promotion in order to earn foreign currency to apply to debt servicing. As a direct result of these policies, the urban poor have suffered in three areas namely, health and welfare, employment and education. The effects of these policies have been felt even more intensively as social services are cut, particularly with rising poverty among women. With respect to the debt crisis, the goal of the IMF and the World Bank (SAPs) has been to ensure that indebted countries will maintain their balance of payments. Developing countries had no choice but to turn to them since without IMF intervention and approval, there were few resources for them to access in order to keep their economies afloat. As a condition for their lending, the IMF and the World Bank called for drastic restructuring of their
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