Structural change and transformation of African economies

Abstract

Independent Africa particularly sub-Saharan African countries (the main focus of this paper), experienced economic growth only mainly during the 1980s. The economic gains of the 1980s declined rapidly during the 1970s and have tended to disappears since the 1980s. Today, the general situation in Africa is one of severe economic deterioration dislocation and desperation. The natural; internal and external factors which have combined to the bring most African economies to the brink of collapse are only just beginning to abate or to be recognized and confronted for what they are. Comparative statistics on changes in the structure of production during the period 1985 to 1984 for Asia, Africa and the industrial market economics are presented in table 1. furthermore, table 2 reveals that the contribution of the manufacturing sector to GDP is less than 14 percent in 1983 in any sub region of Africa.