IMF and World Bank conditioned debt relief on austerity measures including currency devaluation, subsidy elimination, privatization, and export orientation across dozens of developing nations facing balance-of-payments crises. These neoliberal prescriptions prioritized creditor repayment over domestic welfare, often exacerbating poverty and inequality they purported to alleviate. SAPs represented external imposition of economic orthodoxy overriding national policy autonomy.

African poets like Kofi Anyidoho and Ogaga Ifowodo critiqued adjustment-induced suffering in verses documenting school closures, hospital deterioration, and brain drain. Caribbean dub poets like Mutabaruka linked structural adjustment to neocolonial continuities in performances blending reggae rhythms with economic analysis. SAP experiences generated postcolonial poetry interrogating whether formal independence delivered substantive economic sovereignty.