ABSTRACT
Joseph Stiglitz is forced to admit that the Washington Consensus must be viewed as highly flawed - 'incomplete and often misguided' are his words. He argues that the focus on inflation resulting from its origin in the Latin American crisis, led to macroeconomic policies which worked against long-term economic growth and detracted attention from weak financial sectors, major sources of macro-instability. Quoting Stiglitz, 'The Washington Consensus held that good economic performance required liberalized trade, macro-economic stability and getting prices right. He adds that the collapse should not obscure the fact that very real achievements in economic development did occur in the 'Tiger Economies' from 1970 to 1997 in which the governments concerned played a very positive part. Africa's economic malaise is deep. In 1988 the World Bank predicted that by 1995 sub-Saharan Africa would owe only $29 billion.
