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Guinea's Economic Performance Under Structural Adjustment: Importance of Mining and Agriculture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Extract

Domestic policy inadequacies have been targeted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the main reason for poor economic performance in sub-Saharan Africa generally.1 The structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) sponsored by these international financial institutions (IFIs) over the past decade have sought to rectify such policies. But many countries following their advice have continued to experience economic decline, albeit according to the World Bank, as a result primarily of their failure to properly implement the recommended reforms. It was argued in the late 1980s and early 1990S that governments pursuing strong adjustment programmes, even in the face of inhospitable world economic conditions, still outperformed weak reformers.2 This analysis does not hold with the same weight for all African countries. In the case of Guinea, external factors have been equally important in explaining its economic record under adjustment.

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Articles
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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References

1 See, for example, World Bank, Accelerated Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: an agenda for action (Washington, DC, 1981)Google Scholar and Adjustment in Africa: reforms, results, and the road ahead (Washington, DC, 1994).Google Scholar

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5 Guinea has been favourably endowed with four distinct climatic zones: a high rainfall coastal region (Guinée-Maritime), the dryer plateau and mountains of the Fouta Djallon (Moyenne-Guinée), the hot and dry savannah lands (Haute-Guinée), and a tropical forest (Guinée-Forestière).

6 Cournanel, Alain, ‘Économic politique de la Guinée, 1958–1981’, in Bernstein, Henry and Campbell, Bonnie K. (eds.), Contradictions of Accumulation in Africa: studies in economy and state (Beverly Hills and London, 1985), pp. 207–47.Google Scholar

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11 See Campbell, Bonnie, Les Enjeux de la bauxite: la Guinée face aux multinationales de l'aluminium (Montreal and Geneva, 1983), ch. 4.Google Scholar

12 Frialco's shares were mainly held by Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation, United States (48·5%) and Pechiney Ugine, France (26·5%), with the rest being distributed between British Aluminium Company (10%), Aluminium Industrie AG, Switzerland (10%), and Vereinigte Aluminium Werke AG, Germany (5%).

13 The private partners in Friguia, after various renegotiations, were: Noranda, Canada (19·6 %); Pechiney, France (18·6 %); British Alcan, United Kingdom (5.1 %); Alusuisse, Switzerland (5·1 %); and VAW, Germany (2·6 %).

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35 It should be recalled that the sites of Tougué and Dabola have been the object of considerable interest in the past, as illustrated by the various exploratory agreements signed over the years: with Alusuisse in February 1971, Energyprojekt in April 1971, and with both in April 1974, while subsequent negotiations have involved Algeria. For more details, see Campbell, Les Enjeux de la bauxite, pp. 106–7.

36 The Boké site had an output of 11·5 million tonnes in 1990 and 1991, and output stabilised at around 11 million tonnes until 1995. Estimated reserves are 4,000 million tonnes. Country Profile, 1994–1995, p. 21, and Country Report, 2nd quarter, 1995, p. 14.

37 Country Profile, p. 20.

38 Guinea: mining sector review, p. 15.

39 Republic of Guinea. Country Economic Memorandum, Vol. 2, p. 38.

40 For a more detailed discussion, see Campbell, ‘Negotiating the Bauxite/Aluminium Sector Under Narrowing Constraints’, pp. 46–8.

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54 The initial rise in ‘official’ prices did not have such a positive effect as expected because many farmers were already receiving higher prices on ‘parallel’ markets which were close to world levels.

55 Actes et recommendations de la deuxième conférence du développement rural, 1989.

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57 FAO Trade Yearbook (Rome, 1994).Google Scholar

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59 See Arulpragasam and Sahn, op. cit. p. 135.

60 Interviews by Jennifer Clapp with farmers in the Forest Zone, 1989–90.

61 For a detailed description of the rice importing and exporting process, see Arulpragasam and Sahn, op. cit. p. 113.

62 The various steps involved in the export of coffee are outlined in Clapp, Jennifer A., ‘African Agricultural Transformation and the World Bank: the case of Guinea’, Ph.D. dissertation, London School of Economics, 1992, ch. 4.Google Scholar

63 On this crisis, see Thenevin, Pierre, ‘Proposition d'amélioration du fonctionnement de la filiére rizicole en Guinée’, Ministry of Agriculture, Conakry, 1989.Google Scholar

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65 Ministry of Planning and Finance, Emploi rural (Conakry, 1992), pp. 8 and 21.Google Scholar See also, US AID, Republic of Guinea: agriculture sector assessment (Conakry, 1990), p. 50.Google Scholar

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69 Trends in Developing Economies, p. 201.

70 Country Profile, 1994–5, p. 20.

71 Ibid. p. 26.

72 See Clapp, Jennifer A., ‘Explaining Policy Reform Implementation in Guinea: the role of both internal and external factors’, in Journal of International Development (Chichester), 6, 3, 1994, pp. 1516.Google Scholar

73 Ibid. pp. 10–11.

74 World Bank, ‘Aide Mémoire: CAS-II’, Conakry, 12 1992.Google Scholar

75 See UNDP, Human Development Report (New York), 1992, 1993, 1994 editions. Guinea had been sixth from the bottom of the UNDP's index in 1991.Google Scholar

76 Clapp, ‘Explaning Policy Reform Implementation in Guinea’, pp. 16–17.

77 ‘Aide Mémoire: CAS II’, p. 1.

78 ‘Guineé: les élections contre la démocratie’, in Jenune Afrique (Paris), 1722, 6–13 01 1994, pp. 1617.Google Scholar

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80 World Bank, ‘Guinée: aide mémoire’, Conakry, 1993, p. 1.Google Scholar