In everything I have said so far, I have, at least implicitly, remained within the hypothesis of ordinary times – that is to say, in circumstances where the economy is not going through moments characterized by exceptional events. But it is not always the case. We are quite often in extraordinary times – moments when the economy is disturbed. These exceptional times are often called, in common parlance and even in economics, periods of economic crisis. Which economic policy should we pursue in times of crisis?

There is also the case of countries exceptionally blessed by nature, which has endowed them with abundant natural resources that may be exploited, to be sold to the world and make enough income to continuously improve the well-being of their citizens. Does the issue of economic policy have the same meaning in these countries in the same way it does for others – that is to say, those who do not have this privilege and who constitute primarily those I had in mind in the previous chapters?

It is on these two questions, which seem relevant in the context of African countries, that this chapter will primarily focus. Discussing economic policy in times of crisis, I will successively lay emphasis on the manifestations of economic crisis (for the first thing is to identify and recognize the crisis when it is there), the origins of the crisis and the approach to adopt through economic policy in order to contain it.