The Impact of Globalization on Sub-Saharan Africa
This study examined globalization and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with emphasis on its impact on growth and poverty reduction in relation to other regions. The existing literatures on the implication of globalization on economic growth and poverty were revie
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The Impact of Globalization on Sub-Saharan Africa Emeka Nkoro and Aham Kelvin Uko
Abstract This study examined globalization and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with emphasis on its impact on growth and poverty reduction in relation to other regions. The existing literatures on the implication of globalization on economic growth and poverty were reviewed. The study reveals that SSA has been marginalized or has not fared well in spite of the high integration of its member countries. Indeed, SSA has relatively remained poor and with high incidence of poverty. However, in order to maximize the benefits of globalization, Sub-Saharan Africa needs to adopt among others; development of strong production base that is predicated on value-added products, export structures diversification, development of manufactured export capacity and the political-will to implement these policies among others.
4.1 Introduction There is a commonly held view that globalization would lead to more efficient use and allocation of resources through exposure of the domestic economy to world market disciplines and better access to state-of-the-art technology (Quattara 1997; Obadan 2005). In his view, Ajayi (2001) stated that the appeal of a more open economy is based on simple but powerful premises. Economic integration will offer improved economic performance. In the same vein, Sachs (2005) stated that, globalization offers new opportunities such as expanded markets and the acquisition of new technology and ideas all of which can yield not only increased E. Nkoro (&) A. K. Uko Economics Department, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected] A. K. Uko e-mail: [email protected]
H. Dincer and Ü. Hacioglu (eds.), Globalization of Financial Institutions, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-01125-7_4, Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
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production but also a higher standard of living. Since the beginning of the new wave of globalization in the 1980s, the less developed countries (LDCs) in which Sub-Saharan Africa (see footnote 1) countries are among have been getting integrated into the global economy at a rapidly accelerated rate.1 The impetus for the process came from the need to make an adjustment in the imbalance in the external account that most of these countries experienced in the aftermath of the oil shocks of the 1970s and the declining demand for their exports due to the recession in the OECD countries during the 1980s. Many of these countries had to subject themselves to structural adjustment programs at the discretion of the multilateral donor agencies, led by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which emphasized the urgency of reforming the protectionist trade regimes of these countries (Khan 1997). However, globalization is not only focusing on economic phenomenon which integrates world economies but also culture, governance, religious, environmental and social dimensions. In other words, globalization can be said to be multi-faceted (Daouas 2001
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