This study reviews the Bank'sexperience with adjustment lending to Sub-Saharan Africa(SSA), from FY80 to FY96. During this period, a total of 163adjustment operations, for $15 billion have been approved to37 countries. Of these, a total of 121 have already beenevaluated at completion. The study is based on informationfrom all the operations, both completed and ongoing. Itfocuses on the performance, outcomes, and impact at thecountry level. Performance is measured first in terms ofcompliance with conditionality in adjustment lending, andthen an overall compliance rating is constructed for eachcountry. The compliance rating is used to classify thecountries into three groups: those with good, weak and poorcompliance records. Design issues, most notably insufficientattention to borrower ownership, were already identified inthe 1993 OED report on adjustment in SSA. The present studyrevisited and quantified the design issues identified in allof the 121 evaluations at completion. The detailed analysisof compliance with conditionality allows us to look at whichtypes of policy reforms are more frequently included inadjustment operations, and which ones are more oftencomplied with. The main recommendations emerging from thefindings of this report are the need for: (i) increasedselectivity in adjustment lending; (ii) improved design; and(iii) improved benchmarks and indicators of progress towardsthe goals of poverty alleviation and fiscal sustainability.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
