2019 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Zimbabwe
Agriculture is an important sector of the Zimbabwean economy. At independence, land ownership was highly skewed, as the sector was dominated by a few commercial farms. The initial phases of land reform, along with liberalization of the agricultural sector throughout the 1990s, helped to increase Zimbabwe’s agricultural productivity, but these gains have been reversed over the past few years. After the bumper crop season of 1999/2000, yields have plummeted, owing to droughts and the disruption of commercial farming under the Fast-Track Land Reform Program. The future of the sector is largely dependent on the success of resettled farmers, which requires better weather conditions, the availability of inputs and capital, and a stable economic environment. Preliminary data for the 2002/03 crop season indicate that, for many of Zimbabwe’s main crops, production continues to be low.
Abstract
The papers in this volume address three important issues: the role ofexchange-rate policy in enhancing the competitiveness of African manufactured exports; the steps that can be taken to improve production efficiency; and the role of institutional and structural reforms in promoting competitiveness in manufacturing and in improving Africa's attractiveness to foreign direct investment. An epilogue evaluates progress and developments since the conference that gave rise to this volume was held.
This paper describes the need to broaden the agenda for poverty reduction. The broadening of the agenda follows from a growing understanding that poverty is more than low income, a lack of education, and poor health. The poor are frequently powerless to influence the social and economic factors that determine their well being. The paper highlights that a broader definition of poverty requires a broader set of actions to fight it and increases the challenge of measuring poverty and comparing achievement across countries and over time.
Abstract
Can Africa ever hope to have comparative advantage in manufactured exports? This question, posed in the following chapter, becomes a theme that reverberates throughout this volume. The ongoing debate among economists about how to answer it and thus give guidance to policymakers pits two fundamental and opposing theoretical views against one another. This book not only discusses the debate, in which the authors duly take their positions, but also tries to break new ground in empirical tests that would support an answer of “Yes!” to the question. As will become evident, however, such an answer depends heavily on supportive policies, resolutely pursued. The final chapter, one of the two that pull together the various contributions in the book, reminds us that “… there is no free lunch”.
Abstract
The key issue of how sub-Saharan Africa might build a strong comparative advantage in exports, especially of labour-intensive manufactures, preoccupies current debates on African development2. The concern stems from two turns of events. First, one of the most visible manifestations of the subcontinent’ s multifaceted development failures during the past 30 years has been its marginalisation in world trade, especially in the global market for manufactures. Second, recent development successes elsewhere have taught that export-oriented policies either have facilitated them, as in Korea and Chinese Taipei, or actually have generated export-led growth, as in Chile, Mauritius, Tunisia and the countries of Southeast Asia3.
Abstract
Trade liberalisation has formed a major component of the several structural adjustment programmes that Kenya has implemented since the mid-1970s. It has involved a reduction in tariffs and their variance as well as the tariffication of quantitative restrictions. Efforts to implement compatible macroeconomic and institutional reforms have accompanied it, along with direct export-promotion policies that, as explained below, have not had much success. This chapter analyses how, within this context, the real exchange rate (RER) has influenced the performance of Kenyan manufactured exports during the 1980s and 1990s.