Evaluating the Socio Economic Impact of the Structural Adjustment Program Essay

These have left most SSA countries with acute balance of payments (BOP) disequilibria and an unfitness to service their debts to foreign bodies. In an effort to tackle the sparing crises and to rush economic recovery, most African countries had to adjust and re-structure their economies. According to Dasgupta (1998), geomorphologic appointment was seen as a fact of life. Thus in the 1980s, most African countries initiated economic policies which were sponsored by the World pious platitude and supplemented by the International fiscal Fund(IMF) in the form of stabilisation and geomorphologic adjustment programmes (SAP).Between June 1986 and July 1987 merely twenty angiotensin converting enzyme SSA countries went through World Bank/IMF SAP. Generally, SAPs entail policies designed by the world Bank/IMF aimed at improving the socioeconomic conditions of implementing nations by restoring economic stability and achieving long term growth through addressing structural weakness, and disequilibria in among others government budgets and external sector. More precisely, they involve the adoption and writ of execution of policies such as currency devaluation, trade liberalization, privatization, and removal of subsidies etc. hich argon perceived as means of reversing the pervasive neighborly and economic problems of growing nations. There has been a considerable amount of literature on the make of SAP measures on less developed countries (LDCs) with no app bent consensus. On the one hand, international financial institutions (IFIs) maintain that SAPs are vital tools for economic recovery and sustainable economic growth. On the other hand, many economists and social scientists argue that SAP measures have led to recessions and poor standards of living in developing countries (Jauch 1999).Thus, the impacts of SAPs remain highly controversial. Even though there are disparities as to the exact effects of SAPs, it is generally accepted that they have further reach ing implications for not only the macroeconomic environment of the countries concerned just now society at large (Mosley and Weeks, 1993, Riddle, 1992, Stein, 1992, El-Tom, 1994, World Bank, 1994). It is against this background that this dissertation attempts to ponder and analyse the effects of SAP on the Nigerian economy.The choice of Nigeria as a case study is due to the fact that it has implemented one of the most radical structural adjustment programmes in Africa. Thus the top dog which posed is, what impact if any has SAP had on the Nigerian economy. beforehand we proceed, it should be emphasised that this dissertation subsumes IMF stabilisation programmes under World Bank structural adjustment programmes. The reason for this is that the two programmes are intertwined and this is done excessively for simplicity. . 2 Aims and Objectives This paper aims to explore the role SAP has played in the Nigerian economy. The major objective of the project is to offer a mend underst anding as to why, what and how structural adjustment program in Nigeria evolved. The simple focal point is to inspect the basis for and causes of the clean ups, formulation and implementation processes, and the reform outcomes. The precise objectives of the dissertation are as follows First, to provide a die understanding of the background to the economic crises in Nigeria that led to SAP * Second, to limn the objectives of SAP and the reforms implemented by the Nigerian government * Third, to analyse the macroeconomic and social consequences of implementing SAP in Nigeria 1. 3 Methodology and entropy To approximate the effects of SAP on the Nigerian economy, the dissertation applies so-called before-after onward motion which in its essence compares the values of selected variables in the period before a program is implemented to those of post-implementation.This approach has been one of the most widely utilise when evaluating SAP. One of the main advantages of the approach is that it can give an insight into whether structural adjustment improved key economic indicators. The major shortcoming of the methodological analysis employed in this paper is that it assumes that all outcomes are the result of the programme itself and thus does not take into account the impacts of others factors. Another limitation is that it does not reveal the causes of variable changes.However, in spite of the fact that the before-after approach whitethorn have some degree of bias as an estimation procedure, it nevertheless, has inbred objectivity and is relatively easy to employ. The dissertation relies on secondary data mainly World Development Indicators. In addition, various government publications are utilised. In the case of Nigeria, the lack of data and the quality of data acquirable had a major constraint on the study. The data were often pitch to be unavailable and there were discrepancies in the different data sources.