Assessment of economic and social conditions in West Africa

Abstract

West African countries, like the other developing countries, have had to adopt Structural Adjustment policies in order to face up to the economic and financial difficulties brought about by external chocks and mediocre results of national economic policies. These Adjustment policies have helped reverse the economic decline experienced in the 1980s and stimulate economic growth in several countries. However, the GDP growth per capita is still low; some brainstorming questions as to the efficacy of the reforms are, therefore, raised. That is why it is absolutely necessary to examine the different economic sectors in order to identify the bottlenecks and define the short, medium and long-term actions to be undertaken.