Neither of these has served Africa well. What Africa needs as it approaches the 21st century is not increased aid but a levelling of the playing field. An important element in this is an unconditional debt write-off for all the indebted SSA countries. Tying debt reduction to perceived compliance with certain performance standards may amount to circular reasoning. Poorly performing countries could blame their performance on the debt burden, whereas the high flyers may owe their growth to debt relief, which currently comes by way of increased official aid.
African economies are market economies.
This means that although the state may draw up the larger developmental plans, implementing such plans depends on the responses of households, private entrepreneurs, and institutions. Development policies will therefore have to be keenly responsive to the capacities and weaknesses of both states and markets in Africa and seek to mobilize the former while correcting the latter. Dogmatic faith in either planning or markets will simply not do. Moving beyond adjustment to growth and development is, of course, not an easy task. The issues are complex, and a synthesis such as this cannot delve into all the issues.