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THE INFORMAL SECTOR IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA.

The end of the 70s and early 80s marked a major turning point for the African continent.
 The Sub-Saharan Africa at that time faced unparalleled economic crisis. The latter will be placed under the supervision of the IMF and the World Bank who will prescribe a  horse treatment which  is nothing else than structural adjustment plan (reduction of wages, declining enrollment, the privatization of state enterprises ) .All these factors put together will provide an appropriate ground for the development of an industry beyond any criminal laws, social, and fiscal named: THE INFORMAL SECTOR.

 Already in the colonial era, economic agents are able to evade their output tax CAPITATION said. And denounced by African leaders of the time such as: GRENARD Matsoua Congo Brazzaville.

 The informal sector appears as a second chance for people in Sub-Saharan Africa who are overnight subject to unemployment and chronic poverty. Survival instinct compels all these people will rush to this new industry which is to them carrying so much hope and out of control on the part of the state. This is only one factor among many that contributed to the growth of the informal sector in Sub-Saharan Africa:
 -Population explosion: the urban population is growing at 6% per year and that of the peripheral cities 10% per year. While jobs increased by 2% per year.
 -The Decline in purchasing power.
 -The Scientific and technical progress, which in turn will cause a decrease in jobs.
 -Incapacity of the state to meet the basic needs: employment, health, housing and education. There are also founding elements of the informal sector.

 Sewing up, this new branch of the African economy opposed by Sub-Saharan African governments and adored by local populations will grow and become a vital link for the various economies of Sub-Saharan Africa (ILO). A brand such as the IMF and the World Bank eventually encouraged.

 It is found in the informal sector almost all existing activities in the formal sector (banking, real estate, hotels, near Medicine) .This developed or sometimes we do not make a clear difference between called formal activities and those called informal.

 However, we can note a major fact:
 Over the last thirty years, Sub-Saharan Africa recorded one of the highest growth rates if not the strongest. Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is on the order of 6.5% per year .And we also observed a decline in inflation to 7.5% in 2007 (Monday, November 5, SEAN NOLA, IMF representative in Africa ) .But despite this, the informal sector continues to expand. For growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is driven by exports of raw materials and does not cause social progress or falling unemployment or improving purchasing power 'or deep inking of the informal sector in economies of sub-Saharan Africa.

 In view of all this, governments in Sub-Saharan Africa would benefit from establishing policies that govern the informal sector and its various stakeholders and not that tend to destroy it. And that enable its gradual integration into the formal sector.The informal sector plays a major role in the political, economic and social stability of their different states.

 If today, the percentage of the population living below $ 1.25 a day in Sub-Saharan African countries has dropped from 52% to 26% between 1981 and 2005 (Figaro, 27 August 2008) .This is especially because the informal sector.


-Frédéric Betta-Akwa

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