ABSTRACT
This chapter will address the question of why African economies have not produced the kinds of structural changes that have characterised the growth of manufacturing 2 in other parts of the world. The chapter will begin with an overview of Africa’s manufacturing growth performance, in comparison with other groups of developing countries. The following sections will review explanations of Africa’s manufacturing performance: the adoption of import substitution strategies of industrialisation, the effects of structural adjustment policies, the high costs of ‘doing business’, uncompetitive wages and low skill levels, credit and investment constraints, public/private ownership and lack of export orientation, and the specific ways in which they have resulted in outcomes different from those that were expected. The chapter will conclude that while there have been variations in Africa’s manufacturing performance, just as has been the case for other country groups, even the best-performing African economies have yet to develop an industrial strategy for changing the structure of manufacturing to reflect the characteristics of mature industrialisation.
