The Effects of the Structural Adjustment Programs on Economic Growth in Sub Saharan Africa A Literature Review

Globalization has changed the political and economic map, but the benefits to different regions have been uneven. Sub Saharan Africa SSA has undergone many economic struggles since achieving independence, and in the early 1980s SSA suffered a severe debt crisis. In response, the International Monetary Fund IMF and the World Bank undertook the implementation of a trade liberalization policy through structural adjustment programs SAPs to ease the debt crisis in SSA. Three of these programs have involved the removal of agricultural subsidies, currency devaluation, and lowering tariffs on natural resources. However, despite the implementation of these programs, economic growth in SSA has been disappointing, and SAP programs earned a negative reputation because of these failures. In this literature review, we discuss studies conducted to analyze these programs. We have suggested further study to explore how these three SAP programs interrupted the economic growth of SSA in the long run, based on open ended discussions with scholars who have researched the history and political economy of the region. Dr. Hasan Ahmed "The Effects of the Structural Adjustment Programs on Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Literature Review" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-6 | Issue-6 , October 2022, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd51924.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/economics/international-economics/51924/the-effects-of-the-structural-adjustment-programs-on-economic-growth-in-subsaharan-africa-a-literature-review/dr-hasan-ahmed