ABSTRACT
This chapter chronicles neoliberalism and economic growth in Africa. It assesses pre-neoliberalism growth initiatives championed by Africans and African institutions. The chapter reviews the thrust of neoliberalism in Africa, focusing on its tenets and history. It then examines recent African economic growth performance. The chapter also focuses on the effects of neoliberalism on economic growth in Africa. The poor state of African economies gave rise to the policy of neoliberalism initiated by the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs) as a potential solution to addressing the challenges faced by many African countries at the time. Despite the usual challenge of attribution, it seems likely that greater institutional democracy that has accompanied neoliberalism in the region has helped to reduce the capricious nature of the executive branch of government that may have spawned the policy syndromes to begin with.
