Structural adjustment programmes

12. The violence of the monetary phenomena has forced many countries to adopt very stringent measures to tackle the crises and restore the balance in key areas. By their very nature, these measures considerably reduce a country's average purchasing power.

Enormous difficulties and sufferings are caused by these economic crises, even though once they are resolved they eventually make it possible to rebuild a better life.

The crises highlight the country's weaknesses which may be inherent or acquired, including those originating from the development errors committed by successive governments, their partners or even by the international community. These weaknesses are manifold, and sometimes only become evident a posteriori. Others are the result of a country's independence policies, because what constituted the strength of the former colonial power may constitute the weakness of the independent country, without the emergence of any means of compensation for them. Then there is the major role played by large-scale projects. These mark out moments of truth, where the need for solidarity is particularly strongly felt in every country. But in reality, the prime effect of these readjustment policies is a reduction in overall expenditure, and hence a decline in incomes. The economically poor in the country are faced with a single alternative: either to place their trust in successive governments, or seek to get rid of them. They themselves often fall victim to ambitious groups seeking power through ideology or out of greed, ignoring all the rules of democracy, and where necessary calling on support from outside forces.

Economic reforms demand great political decision-making skills on the part of governments. This is one of the criteria by which to gauge the quality of their work. Not only must the stabilisation planbe technically successful, it must be able to keep the support of the majority of the people, including the most deprived. This demands the ability to convince the other sectors of society to bear a real part of the burden. These constitute only a small circle of persons and are made-up of those with incomes of international standards and civil servants, who in the past enjoyed standards that were enviable in their country and who could find themselves with severely reduced resources, or even poverty-stricken, from one day to the next. It is here that traditional solidarity comes into play, with the poor always willing to support the members of their family who have fallen back into a state of want from which they believed they had emerged for ever.

Concern to protect the very poorest people in these readjustment processes has only been gradually taken on board by national and international agencies. It took several years for the concept of concomitant operations, targeted at the most vulnerable groups, to become widely accepted. Furthermore, here as in emergency situations, there is always a risk of applying the brakes too late and too suddenly, with a whiplash effect that might considerably increase the sufferings of those standing at the back of the queue.

Vast projects have been implemented in Africa and in Latin America(²⁰) involving:

— structural adjustment programmes, requiring stringent macroeconomic measures;

— substantial new borrowing;

— far-reaching structural reforms to overcome local inadequacies partly due to the existence of State monopolies which consume a substantial share of national income without providing an adequate quality of service for the benefit of everyone. In many of these countries all the public services have suffered, and with weeds often growing among the good wheat, even efficient sectors have been adversely affected as well(²¹).

Some governments, which are often little known on the international scene, have acted admirably. They have found the political courage to adopt unavoidable measures, while at the same time taking into account external pressure and opinion, setting a fine example to increase cooperation and solidarity in their countries, and avoiding any backlash. It should be noted that the influence that the example of a leader has depends not only on his know-how and governance skills, but also his capacity to curtail social injustice, which is always present in such situations.

The developed countries must seriously ask themselves the following question: is their attitude, and even their preferences regarding the mis-developing countries, based on the social, technical and political performance of their leadership, or is their support determined by other standards?