Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an overview of economic and political developments in Malawi between independence in 1964 and the initiation of the economic reform programme in 1981. It primarily focuses on the expenditure switching policies and the efficiency enhancement policies, which constitute the medium-term supply-side approach of World Bank supported structural adjustment programmes. The book presents the Bank's diagnosis of the macro-economic disequilibria and the structural weaknesses in the economy and its policy prescriptions. It also focuses on the adjustment period up to 1988 during which Malawi implemented three World Bank Structural Adjustment Loans (SALs). Malawi provides an excellent case study of donor-guided economic adjustment. The book analyses policy reforms under the three SALs in the agricultural sector of the economy, including bargaining, compliance, implementation and impact.