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Guest post by: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Become an Author

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Two distinct periods stand out in Africa’s development strategy. The period spanning
the 1960s and the 1970s was characterized by policies aimed at strengthening
economic autonomy. It is during this period that diversification oriented policies
were aggressively pursued in most countries. A major shift in economic policies in
Africa was occasioned by the economic crises of the early 1980s. Most of the postindependence
economic policies geared to long-term development were replaced by
macroeconomic stabilization policies focusing on short-term goals. This reorientation
of economic policies has failed to yield the expected results, and it is clear that a
shift in policy orientation is needed to accelerate progress towards the MDGs.

In recent decades, sparks of economic growth have often vanished as quickly as they
have been ignited. The current growth momentum also rests on a very fragile foundation.
The continent continues to rely on primary commodities whose prices have
been major sources of trade shocks. While efforts towards diversification had some
positive results in the 1970s and early 1980s, these gains were reversed in the mid-
1980s due to the economic crises of the period. Therefore, it is critical for African
countries to embrace diversification as the central development paradigm.

Diversification experiences in Africa fall into five main categories: countries with
little economic diversification such as Burkina Faso and Senegal; countries that made
some early progress and then stagnated in the process such as Kenya; those that managed
to deepen their diversification process as exemplified by Tunisia and Mauritius;
backsliders in the diversification efforts consisting mainly of oil-rich countries
such as Nigeria; and non-starters comprising largely of the conflict and post-conflict
countries such as Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This diversity of
experiences raises the questions of what factors drive diversification and what policies
can foster diversification in the medium-term and in the long-term.

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