Interrogating the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in Malawi

Abstract

This paper interrogates the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in Malawi, with a focus on its impacts on the livelihoods of the working class and poor people. The SAP was superimposed by the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), since 1981, to recover an ailing economy through economic austerity measures and to promote sustainable development. This paper critically discusses the key effects of the SAP in the long run, looking in particular at the effects on the unemployment rate, falling real wages, Malawians’ poor living standards and food insecurity. The analysis is based on data from the National Statistical Office for the period 1981 to 2022 and a review of the literature on SAPs in Malawi. The paper argues that the implementation of the SAPs in Malawi has not protected wage labourers and poor people’s livelihoods, but rather it has exacerbated the downward spiral of Malawi’s economy and citizens’ living standards. And it posits that development policy guidelines should not conceal power relations that compound social and economic ills, but should be transparent and targeted to solve economic problems of developing countries, protect the working class, and improve the livelihoods of poor people.