Education and Adjustment: The Experience of the 1980s and Lessons for the 1990s

The 1980s was a decade of adjustment for much of the Third World, especially for most countries in Africa and Latin America. The stabilisation and adjustment policies followed — mainly under the auspices of the IMF and World Bank — were necessitated by major imbalances that developed in the early 1980s and persisted for much of the decade. Many countries suffered very large deficits in their external accounts, with the value of imports plus payments due on their debt greatly exceeding the value of their exports, while budget deficits were also pervasive.