Sub-Saharan Africa is facing a debt crisis of major international significance. Not only have debt levels risen sharply, but output and exports have stagnated. Standards of living have fallen drastically, and in many cases have been reduced to the level of the early 1960s. This important book argues that it is impossible for Sub-Saharan African countries to resolve the debt crisis without outside assistance. The conventional methods of debt consolidation are inappropriate and of limited use in their case. The SSA countries need to undertake major structural reforms if they are to get out of debt and achieve long term sustainable growth and development. The book provides an integrated debt-development strategy for achieving both these goals. Debt Relief and Sustainable Development in Sub-Saharan Africamakes a significant contribution to an important but hitherto relatively neglected area of the international debt crisis. It will be essential reading for development economists as well as all those with an interest in contemporary Africa.

Aid to Sub-Saharan Africa has been less effective in promoting economic development than has aid to other regions. Policies in the recipient countries of Africa - though certainly not the only factor - play the most important role in determining aid's effectiveness. At the heart of the problem is politics, and the solution rests in the hands of the people of Africa.

The African Development Bank commissioned four case studies on Debt Relief Initiatives, Development Assistance and Service Delivery in Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, and Uganda from the last quarter of 2006 to mid 2007. The objective of the study was to appraise the extent to which debt relief resources are being used to improve social service delivery. There is strong agreement from all four case studies that debt relief created flexibility in governments spending by playing the role of flexible and predictable budget support. In this context, governments acquired more degrees of freedom to allocate debt relief resources in line with their own objectives. In all four countries debt relief resources were more easily transformed into MDG-related spending than tied aid. The case studies had a consensus in identifying the accountability of public institutions to civil society, through community monitoring or execution of expenditures, as the most effective means of enhancing spending effectiveness. This formed the basis for the success observed in program implementation. From the findings of the case studies it is clear that debt relief can lead to enhanced service delivery provided certain conditions prevail. These conditions can be influenced by donors as well as the willingness of beneficiary governments to undertake reforms. The general observation across the case studies is that debt relief has a major positive impact on service delivery, and progress towards the MDGs, when beneficiaries: (i) have high capacity in MDG spending, (ii) are highly accountable, and (iii) receive stable and high-quality aid.

The volume presents a pan-African perspective, giving an overview of the ?African debt dilemma?, causes, effects and policy options. It presents case studies on virtually all the southern, central- southern, and east African countries, and comparative studies on debt and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa in general, and in the SADC region in particular. An entire section is devoted to theoretical perspectives, covering topics such as debt forgiveness initiatives and poverty alleviation; debt, poverty, compliance and the classics of regression; the urbanisation of poverty, and dichotomous poverty alleviation strategies; and population variables.

The massive external debt burden of Sub-Saharan Africa has gained widespread attention as a serious policy issue during the past few years. This paper reviews recent trends in the debt levels and economic performance of Sub-Saharan countries and assesses a number of proposals for reducing their external debt service obligations. There is also a discussion of the modalities of various debt relief proposals that have been advanced.

Sub-Saharan African countries are facing an unprecedented health and economic crisis that is likely to severely hurt credit quality and raise non-performing loans from already high levels. Banks have a critical role to play not only during the crisis by providing temporarily relief to businesses and households, but also during the recovery by supporting economic activity and facilitating the structural transformations engaged by the pandemic.

Assessing both the macro- and micro-economic levels of the contemporary African Debt Crisis, this book, first published in 1989, begins by looking at the origins of the world debt crisis, and then looks closely at the problem as it affects Sub-Saharan Africa. The effects of debt on Africa’s position in international relations are considered, and the roles played by organisations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are assessed. The authors also examine the local effects in a series of case studies of various states including Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone, the Francophone States and Zaire.