Dr. Donal Donovan:

I certainly agree with the Deputy that they were controversial. They were rightly or wrongly - and one could debate this at some length - aimed at modifying policies that had been followed in quite a number of countries, which were - let us call them - relatively regulated policies, that is to say, relatively closed exchange and trade systems, an emphasis on import substitution, an emphasis on statement enterprises, an emphasis on wage and price controls and discouragement of private banking activities. Rightly or wrongly, around the 1970s and 1980s, many countries and many in the IMF and the World Bank felt that these policies had not been successful and had not led to economic improvements in these countries. The agenda - I agree with the Deputy's characterisation - was to try to change these policies. These were politically sensitive; they were politically difficult. Whether they worked well or not is a matter for debate, but I suggest one important point is that there has been one group of countries - it missed all of the terrible mess we have had over the past ten years - which has performed very well and whose economic growth performances overall has been remarkably positive. Those are the African countries over the past 15 years. Many would argue, again rightly or wrongly, that the policy changes they began to implement in 1980s and 1990s were finally bearing fruit and having a positive effect and that this contributed to what has been, which would be agreed by most observers, a surprisingly positive and sustained improvement in Africa's economic performance not just in terms of overall growth, but also in terms of reducing poverty.

Of course there is still poverty in Africa but on a wider range of indicators, the results could be regarded as quite positive.