Problematique of financing development in Africa : Proceedings of the Forum held during the Fifth Session of the Confeence of African Ministers of Finance, 1st March 1994, Libreville, Gabon

Abstract

The problems of financing the development process in Africa have in recent years been compounded by a number of adverse factors. These have included the collapse of commodity prices for a number of primary products exported by African countries; the escalation of the external debt burden; reduced real resource flows to African countries and a shift in its composition; poor performance of economies of industrialized countries as well as restricted access to markets of industrialized countries because of non-tariff barriers. Furthermore, the poor performance of most African economies during the last decade made mobilization of domestic savings more difficult. The 1980s were generally recognized as a lost decade for Africa. The decade had been characterized by a general decline in real incomes in many African countries; falling standards of living and a general decay of infrastructure as maintenance capacities of many economies declined. The economic situation of the continent was exacerbated by political and civil strife in a number of African countries which resulted in massive flow of refugees and displaced persons.