The international donor community comprising the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, regional organisations such as the European Union, other multilateral international agencies and individual OECD countries, has used foreign aid in one form or another to ameliorate the grim situation in sub-Saharan Africa, home to 33 of the 48 least developed countries, LDCs, in the world. The role of donors has therefore become an increasingly important and constant factor in the economies of sub-Saharan Africa. This study is not about emergency food aid and/or humanitarian aid as a response to natural and man-made disasters. It does not even cover the activities of Non-Governmental organisations engaged with the development process (NGDOs). In this connection, the study concentrates on examining the government-centred, development-oriented and compensatory types of aid such as provided mostly by the EU under the Lome system, and the IMF/World Bank under the stabilisation and structural adjustment programs.