ABSTRACT
In a well-documented attempt to correct severe internal and external imbalances, rampant inflation, and a grossly overvalued exchange rate, at the instigation of the IMF andWorld Bank, in 1983 Ghana embarked on a major programme of economic reform (Roe and Schneider, 1992; Aryeetey, Harrigan and Nissanke, 2000). The reform package included a liberalisation of the trade and payments regime, initially through a series of devaluations of the exchange rate, but later through the abolition of import licenses and reductions in import tariffs and export tax rates. However, Ghana’s attempt to enter a globalising world through market and trade liberalisation has not been smooth or even a one-way process (Aryeetey et al., 2000). In terms of outcomes, the reforms initially seemed to reverse the deteriorating macroeconomic performance that had prevailed previously (although it has faltered during the 1990s). However, policy reform does not appear to have had a uniformly beneficial effect on the poor and vulnerable groups. Poverty incidence has remained persistent and high in spite of the introduction of various social programmes to mitigate the adverse effects of reform. Also, Ghana has struggled to maintain a strict budgetary discipline, especially through the 1990s.
