Reinold van Til STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMMES: THE EXPERIENCE WITH ESAF IN AFRICA Reinold van Til Assistant Director of the Africa Department, IMF Since the IMF has broadened its attention in developing countries from short-term stabilisation to medium-term structural adjustment programmes, considerable ex­perience has been gained in the design and implementation of these programmes. ESAF programmes have become the main vehicle for the IMF’s support in Africa. 1 Since July 1988, some 75 three-year ESAF arrangements have been launched, of which more than 50 are in Africa alone. The amount of committed resources over this period for Africa was more than SDR 2 5 billion, of which almost SDR 4 billion has been disbursed. The Fund has recently reviewed the experience with SAF and ESAF programmes. 3 In addition, a group of external experts has conducted a separate evaluation of cer­tain aspects of the ESAF, notably related to external viability, the impact of adjust­ment on the poor, and the ownership of programmes. 4 These reviews provide a rich source of information on how structural adjustment programmes have performed, in Africa and elsewhere, and they have generated a debate on what needs to be done to improve their design and implementation. My contribution today will focus on three themes. First, I will discuss the main design features of structural adjustment programmes. Second, I will paint with a broad brush the record of performance under ESAF programmes in Africa in achiev­ing macro-economic stability, external viability, and sustained economic growth. Third, I will make some remarks on the lessons that can be drawn from the experi­ence with structural adjustment programmes and what is required for Africa’s par­ticipation in the global economy. The Design of Structural Adjustment Programmes Although it is well known that preventive treatment is better and cheaper than cura­tive medicine, the reality has been that many countries are only looking for IMF support when they are faced with an economic and financial crisis, which is almost invariably characterised by unsustainable fiscal and external imbalances, foreign exchange shortages, and often by high inflation, and negative economic growth. What distinguishes most developing countries, including those in Africa, is that these crises did not erupt suddenly, but were the culmination of an inward-looking development strategy of the 1960s and 1970s, which relied on government interven­64