Agenda for Africa's Economic Renewal.

• Author: Stracke, Christian

Beeno Ndulu, Nicolas van de Walle, and contributors (Washington, DC: Overseas Development Council Policy Perspectives No. 21, 1996) 246 pp.

Despite its optimistic title, Benno Ndulu and Nicolas van de Walle's work springs from a depressing premise: Sub-Saharan Africa is by all measures the world's poorest economic performer and the depth and intensity of its problems leave little hope for a quick recovery. Africa claims 16 of the world's 20 poorest nations; its average infant mortality is the highest in the world, while life expectancy is the lowest. Perhaps most telling, average GDP actually declined 0.35 percent annually over the last 20 years. Africa, say Ndulu and van de Walle, is mired in a vicious cycle of poor socio-political conditions leading to poor economic growth, which leads in turn to even more dismal socio-political conditions.

Ndulu and van de Walle, however, maintain that Africa's downward spiral is by no means a permanent one. Africa, the authors argue, has in the last several years found a broad policy consensus among developmentalists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and many of its politicians. Whereas post-colonial Africa has been characterized by widespread state dirigisme, both within governments and the developmental policy establishment in general, African states are currently enjoying a surge of decentralization, privatization, deregulation and market liberalization. African policymakers now agree that Africa's only chance to break its vicious cycle is to adopt a vigilant macroeconomic stability program, coupled with broad institutional reform and heightened investment in infrastructure and human capital.

Attempting to synthesize this consensus and create a coherent blueprint for stability, reform and investment, Ndulu and van de Walle and their contributing authors identify six main facets of their agenda: African states must consolidate macroeconomic stability, reform their civil service, invest in health and education, transform agriculture towards greater productivity and diversification, turn to market openness and greater trade, and, finally, strengthen and renew their political institutions. Ndulu and van de Walle argue that such a concerted effort on all six fronts is indispensable, since each facet of the plan depends on all the others in order to succeed. They argue that macroeconomic stability, for instance, will not be possible without a competent and disinterested civil service. Also, greater...