Working Paper 40 - Industrial Restructuring in Africa During the1990s: Outcomes and Prospects

Since the advent of political independence, many governments in Africa have looked to themanufacturing sector as the main vehicle of structural transformation and reduction of dependenceon primary exports. However, it is now generally accepted that “misguided attempts to promoteindustrialisation without regard to comparative advantage or stage of development have led toinefficient use of resources in many countries” (World Bank, 1992:122). During the 1970s, almostone-third of African countries had negative average annual rates of manufacturing output growthand, in another quarter, these growth rates stagnated at below 2.5 percent. An important objective of the economic reform programmes that are currently being pursuedin almost all African countries is to eliminate the “inefficient use of resources” by industrial enterprises.It is clear that the industrial sector in most African countries is being profoundly affected by thisprocess of reform which has accelerated markedly during the 1990s. However, there has beenremarkably little independent analysis of just how successful industrial restructuring in Africa hasbeen. Two reviews of structural adjustment programmes undertaken by the World Bank in 1992and 1994 concluded that industrial restructuring had been successful in the majority of countriesunder scrutiny and that this was particularly so among those countries that had most consistentlypursued comprehensive macroeconomic reforms (see World Bank, 1992a and 1994). But othereconomists outside of the World Bank have been less sanguine and some have argued that “structuraladjustment programmes damage the prospects for industrialisation” (Stoneman, 1994:104) andmay, in fact, be leading to wholesale de-industrialisation.The purpose of this paper is to review the industrial performance of African economies duringthe 1990s and to then discuss the principal reasons why this performance, particularly with respectto the manufacturing sector, continues to be so poor in the majority of countries. The discussion willbe structured as follows. Section 1 outlines the broad objectives of industrial restructuring as thesehave been interpreted by the World Bank. Section 2 addresses the weaknesses of the main datasources that are generally relied upon in assessing the industrial sector. Section 3 reviews theperformance of the industrial sector, looking specifically at the following indicators: output growth,share of GDP, the sectoral composition of output, private and foreign investment, exports, andemployment and training. Section 4 then analyses the principal factors that have affected theperformance of the industrial sector, focusing in particular on investment, exports, and productivity.Finally, in Section 5, the prospects for the industrial sector and the role of government policy arebriefly considered.

Working papers in economics

A working paper on British transnational corporations with industrial operations in Anglophone Africa.This paper reviews the main findings of empirical research on British transnational corporations with industrial operations in the fifteen countries of English speaking Africa. The research reveals that not only is the level of equity involvements of British industrial TNCs in these countries of very minor importance in global terms but that, as a consequence of the deep and protracted economic crisis of the 1980s in Africa, nearly one third of these TNCs have withdrawn from the continent since 1979. The possible consequences of this process of corporate disengagement are explored, especially in the light of the now universal policy objective of African governments to attract foreign capital and, in particular, transnational corporations

The formation of engineering labour markets in Kenya 1918-1979

This paper outlines the basic theoretical and empirical objectives of a study on the historical constitution of engineering labour markets in Kenya between 1918-1979. The analysis of developments in the formal training and utilization of engineers, technicians and artisans focuses on the nature of the relationship between the supply and demand of these three categories of manpower within the modern sector. This in turn entails the elaboration of a theoretical framework within which the complex interaction of economic, political and social factors can be assessed. The provision of training facilities has been determined by the basic conceptions of the state concerning the "needs" for engineering manpower. The study focuses in particular on the establishment of 'professional’ engineering training and the role of the engineering profession in this process. The analysis of the utilization of engineering manpower will attempt to identify the changing labour requirements emanating from the economy and, in particular, the manufacturing sector

A quantitative assessment of the utilisation of engineering manpower in Kenya

This paper outlines the main empirical results of which have emerged from a preliminary analysis of date concerned with the pattern of utilization of engineering manpower in Kenya. It forms part of a wider research study into the formation of engineering labour markets from the early colonial period up until the late 1970s. For expositional purposes, each of the three main occupational categories of engineering manpower -professional engineers, technicians and artisans- have been discussed separately. Four main aspects of utilisation have been delineated namely, overall stock, inter- and intra- sectoral employment distribution, utilisation of engineering knowledge and task analysis and remuneration structures. This essentially quantitative analysis of the pattern of engineering utilisation will be supplemented by more qualitative research findings based on archival work, interview surveys of private and public sector employers and information collected from, major trailing institutions

Privatisation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Progress and Prospects During the 1990s

Privatisation of both the ownership and control o f state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is an increasingly central feature o f all national economic reform programmes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In those countries where SOEs have dominated all or most sectors o f the formal economy, comprehensive privatisation programmes are regarded (particularly by the World Bank and the IMF) as being o f crucial importance for the future development o f a strong private sector which, in many respects, has become the superordinate medium-long term objective o f adjustment programmes everywhere in Africa. Privatisation is also justified on the grounds that SOEs are invariably inefficient and, without decisive interventions, will continue to be a massive drain on extremely limited public resources (see World Bank, 1995). The article is structured as follows. Section 2 briefly describes the sources and types o f data that were included in the survey. Section 3 presents an overview o f the number, value, type, and ownership characteristics o f privatisations between 1980 and 1995 disaggregated by country and main economic sector. Sections 4 and 5 then discusses how the design and implementation o f privatisation programmes in SSA have been affected by a number o f key political and economic factors. Section 6 reviews the limited evidence that is available on the performance of privatised SOEs. Finally, section 7 considers the prospects for privatisation in SSA during the next five years. Data from five main sources were utilised for the survey, (i) The Candoy-Sekse and Sader data bases for the periods 1980-1987 and 1988-1992 respectively, (ii) Unpublished data from the World Bank that partially updates the Sader data base up to and including 1995. (iii) Reports and other documentation produced by government commissions, committees and units that have been specially established, often with technical assistance from the World Bank and other donors, to design and implement privatisation programmes in SSA. Basic information on all transactions was obtained from almost all countries that have had active privatisation programmes during the 1990s, including Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.4 (iv) Information provided by country desk officers for SSA, and staff o f the Private Sector Department at the World Bank; and (v) A variety o f other publications including the local and international business media. Grey cover World Bank reports on private sector development were particularly useful for a number of countries

Vocational Education and Training in Zimbabwe: the Role of Private Sector Provision in the Context of Economic Reform

This paper presents and discusses the results of empirical research into the provision of vocational training by private sector training institutions (PSTIs) in Zimbabwe. Representative samples of registered and non- registered PSTIs in Harare were surveyed in early 1997. With economic liberalisation during the 1990s, there has been an extremely rapid growth in the number of students enrolled on a wide variety of courses offered by registered, for profit PSTIs. However, private sector provision of vocational training for the urban poor is very limited, both in terms of enrolments and areas of skill development