Madagascar, a former French colony, has been attacked by military coups, political violence, and corruption for decades. It is an economy with many untapped natural resources, no capital markets, a weak judicial system, poorly enforced contracts, and rampant government corruption. Agriculture, including fishing and forestry, is a mainstay of the economy, accounting for more than one-fourth of GDP and employing roughly 80% of the population. Deforestation and erosion, and the use of firewood as the primary source of fuel, are serious concerns to the agriculture dependent economy. Madagascar produces around 80% of the world’s vanilla supply; although supply was constrained by hurricane-related damage in 2017, international demand drove prices to record highs, increasing export earnings for Malagasy vanilla. The country faces challenges to improve education, healthcare, and the environment to boost long-term economic growth. After discarding socialist economic policies which proved disastrous for Madagascar in the mid-1990s, Madagascar followed a World Bank and IMF led policy of privatisation and liberalisation until the onset of a political crisis, which lasted from 2009 to 2013. The strategy had placed the country on a slow and steady growth path from an extremely low starting point. Exports of apparel boomed after gaining duty-free access to the US in 2000; however, Madagascar’s failure to comply with the requirements of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) led to the termination of the country’s duty-free access in January 2010, a sharp fall in textile production, and a loss of more than 100,000 jobs. Madagascar regained AGOA access in January 2015 following the democratic election of a new president the previous year. Madagascar’s financial sector remains weak, limiting the use of monetary policy to contro>