ascar
Having discarded past socialist economic policies,
Madagascar has since the mid 1990s followed a World Bank and IMF led
policy of privatization and liberalization. This strategy has placed
the country on a slow and steady growth path from an extremely low
level. Agriculture, including fishing and forestry, is a mainstay of
the economy, accounting for more than one-fourth of GDP and
employing four-fifths of the population. Exports of apparel have
boomed in recent years primarily due to duty-free access to the
United States. Deforestation and erosion, aggravated by the use of
firewood as the primary source of fuel are serious concerns.
President RAVALOMANANA has worked aggressively to revive the economy
following the 2002 political crisis, which triggered a 12% drop in
GDP that year. Poverty reduction and combating corruption will be
the centerpieces of economic policy for the next few years.

Malawi
Landlocked Malawi ranks among the world's least developed
countries. The economy is predominately agricultural, with about 90%
of the population living in rural areas. Agriculture accounted for
nearly 40% of GDP and 88% of export revenues in 2001. The economy
depends on substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF,
the World Bank, and individual donor nations. In late 2000, Malawi
was approved for relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
(HIPC) program. In November 2002 the World Bank approved a $50
million drought recovery package, which is to be used for famine
relief. The government faces strong challenges, e.g., to fully
develop a market economy, to improve educational facilities, to face
up to environmental problems, to deal with the rapidly growing
problem of HIV/AIDS, and to satisfy foreign donors that fiscal
discipline is being tightened. The performance of the tobacco sector
is key to short-term growth as tobacco accounts for over 50% of
exports.

Malaysia
Malaysia, a middle-income country, transformed itself from
1971 through the late 1990s from a producer of raw materials into an
emerging multi-sector economy. Growth was almost exclusively driven
by exports - particularly of electronics. As a result Malaysia was
hard hit by the global economic downturn and the slump in the
information technology (IT) sector in 2001 and 2002. GDP in 2001
grew only 0.5% due to an estimated 11% contraction in exports, but a
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