Progress report on short-term forecasting and outlook

Abstract

For the past two years after the last joint Conference of African Planners, Statisticians and geographers, the ECA secretariat has been involved in a series of activities relating to short-term forecasting structural adjustment programmes end other related socio-economic research and Policy. By the early 197Os Africa started to experience a number of economic disequilibria, which have become progressively aggravated ever since, so much so that as from the early 19^0s the African region as a whole has been in deep and protracted recession which has resulted in a serious social and economic crisis. This situation forced a number of African countries had put in place stabilization programmes under the stand by arrangement facility of the IMF while 15 countries had structural adjustment programmes under the structural adjustment loans of the world bank. However, the result so far achieved in most of these countries were not encouraging