Aspects of Structural Adjustment in West Africa-and South-East Asia

and South-East Asia Sumit Roy Structural adjustment programmes in the 1980s and early 1990s have focused on using trade, fiscal and monetary policies to restore balance of payments equilibrium and stimulate growth in developing countries. These have taken shape against a background of global recession and severe external debts which started emerging over 1979-81. The policies have been underpinned by a shift in emphasis from state to market forces in organising economic activity. The agricultural sector has been expected to play a major role in this process, in order to boost output and foreign exchange.