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Southern Africa
Country Assessment Studies were undertaken in
Malawi, Botswana and Zimbabwe. The following is a summary of the
findings.
April 2000
IN THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN
region, the three countries chosen for country assessments fall under two
categories: Malawi and Zimbabwe, which both adopted structural adjsutment
programmes (SAPs) supported by the IMF and World Bank, and Botswana, which
did not, and instead opted to follow its own open economic policies within
the framework of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).
Malawi
started implementing SAPs long before Zimbabwe but failed to restructure
its economy to exploit opportunities offered by globalisation. This is
partly due to its heavy dependence on a few primary commodities, such as
tobacco, sugar, tea, and coffee. Less developed than Botswana and
Zimbabwe, Malawi does not enjoy the same level of infrastructure,
high-level skills and manpower which, inter alia, are important
prerequisites for integrating successfully in the global
economy.
Neither Malawi nor Zimbabwe has achieved macroeconomic
stability. Economic growth and social performance (poverty alleviation and
employment generation) are worse than at the start of the
SAPs.
Failure to address the budget deficit has contributed to
inflation and high interest rates, which have hindered domestic and
foreign investment. Failure to implement policies lies at the the heart of
these problems. Lack of good governance and policitical accountability are
far more serious hindrances.
In contrast to Malawi and Zimbawe,
Botswana always maintained relatively liberal economic policies. Thanks to
very rapid economic growth during the past 30 years, Botswana is already
in the league of middle-income contries. It enjoys sound macroeconomic
management and has significant amounts of foreign exchange reserves. Its
maing requirement it to diversify the economic structure and promote
non-traditional exports for both regional and global markets in order to
reduce risks.
Botswana's economic growth so far has been quite
impressive but it has been largely driven bu groth in government spending
which is not sustainable. Botswana presents an interesting case of (sub)
regional integration withing SACU serving as a stepping stone to
globalisation through links wiht other regions, particularly the EU and
the United States. Botswana's need to compete with South Africa and
Zimbabwe may have prepared it well for opening up to global
competition.
The challenge for Zimbabwe is to achieve economic
stability and for Botswana to restructure and diversify its economy.
Malawi faces the twin challenges of attaining both economic stability and
economic restructuring.
All three countries must address the tasks
of poverty alleviation and employment generation. Although Botswana has
grown rapidly compared to Malawi and Zimbabwe, like them it has failed to
reduce poverty, which suggests that growth is a necessary, but not a
sufficient, condition for achieving equity.
Secondly, in all three
countries community-based and resource-based monitoring and management
needs supprot for promoting SHD. Thirdly, al three countries need to
strengthen their capacity for international trade negotiations. Regional
training courses in this area within the framework of SADC is a high
priority.
For more information email mailto:globalprogramme.unctad.org
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© United Nations 2001 |
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