The impact of the Bretton Wood Institutions on Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
Using a country of your choice, discuss the impact of the Bretton Wood
Institutions on Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Introduction
The Bretton woods institutions are the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World
Bank. They were setup at the end of the Second World War in order to rebuild the devastated post-war economy and to promote international economic cooperation. The main focus of the
IMF is to maintain exchange stability by harmonising its members’ monetary policies1. The aim of the World Bank, on the other hand, is to advance reconstruction and promote longterm economic growth in less developed countries2.
Ghana started to work with the IMF/World Bank in the sixties. Since then most of its governments, democracies as well as military dictatorships, have taken loans from the
IMF/World Bank. So-called Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) have been applied on
Ghana since 1983.3 These loans include a set of stabilisation measures that the creditor has to implement as a condition of the loan. The aim is to bring about economic recovery through reform and thus help the country to remove its budget deficits.
In this essay I am going to discuss the implications of SAPs on human development in
Ghana, as SAPs are the main tool used by the Bretton Woods institutions to carry out their neo-liberal agenda in Africa. I have chosen Ghana because it was among the first countries to carry through IMF/World Bank programmes4 and has since been relatively consistent in implementing them.5 For this reason Ghana has been presented as a remarkable success story
1
Article 1 – Purposes of the IMF: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/aa/index.htm#art1
Article 1 – Purposes of the IBRD: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTABOUTUS/Resources/IBRDArticlesOfAgreement_links.pdf 3
List with all projects of the World Bank in Ghana: http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/ghana/projects/all?qterm=&lang_exact=English 4
Lensink (1996), p.10
5
Institutions on Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Introduction
The Bretton woods institutions are the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World
Bank. They were setup at the end of the Second World War in order to rebuild the devastated post-war economy and to promote international economic cooperation. The main focus of the
IMF is to maintain exchange stability by harmonising its members’ monetary policies1. The aim of the World Bank, on the other hand, is to advance reconstruction and promote longterm economic growth in less developed countries2.
Ghana started to work with the IMF/World Bank in the sixties. Since then most of its governments, democracies as well as military dictatorships, have taken loans from the
IMF/World Bank. So-called Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) have been applied on
Ghana since 1983.3 These loans include a set of stabilisation measures that the creditor has to implement as a condition of the loan. The aim is to bring about economic recovery through reform and thus help the country to remove its budget deficits.
In this essay I am going to discuss the implications of SAPs on human development in
Ghana, as SAPs are the main tool used by the Bretton Woods institutions to carry out their neo-liberal agenda in Africa. I have chosen Ghana because it was among the first countries to carry through IMF/World Bank programmes4 and has since been relatively consistent in implementing them.5 For this reason Ghana has been presented as a remarkable success story
1
Article 1 – Purposes of the IMF: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/aa/index.htm#art1
Article 1 – Purposes of the IBRD: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTABOUTUS/Resources/IBRDArticlesOfAgreement_links.pdf 3
List with all projects of the World Bank in Ghana: http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/ghana/projects/all?qterm=&lang_exact=English 4
Lensink (1996), p.10
5
Bibliography: Akonor, K. (2006), Africa and IMF Conditionality: The Unevenness of Compliance, 19832000. New York & London: Routledge. Lensink, R. (1996), Structural Adjustment in Sub-Saharan Africa. New York: Longman Publishing. Tsikata, G. Kwaku (2007) ‘The Challenges of Economic Growth in a Liberal Economy’, in Boafo-Arthur, Kwame [ed] Ghana: A Decade of the Liberal State Colgan, Anne-Louis (2002), Hazardous to Health: The World Bank and IMF in Africa. Global Exchange (2001), How the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Undermine Democracy and Erode Human Rights: Five Case Studies Konadu-Agyemang, K. (2004), The Best of Times and the Worst of Times: Structural Adjustment Programs and Uneven Development in Africa: The Case of Ghana Loxley, J. (1990), Structural Adjustment in Africa: Reflections on Ghana and Zambia. Tsikata, D. (2000), Effects of structural adjustment on women and the poor. TWN Third World Network, [online] http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/adjus-cn.htm [accessed 16