Typical street scene in Santa Ana, El Salvador. (Photo: iStock)
IMF Survey: Africa Needs Trade and Investment, Not More Aid
April 2, 2009
L-r: Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Tanzania’s Jakaya Kikwete: A bolder message from African leaders on trade and investment would have been nice (photo: IMF).
TANZANIAN CONFERENCE
Dear IMF Survey:
Your account of the Dar es Salaam conference is depressing.
Yet again, the emphasis was apparently on aid and developed country commitments to deliver more of it. But an effective global fiscal stimulus and action to unblock the credit markets in the north will do at least as much for Africa through higher commodity prices, expanded trade opportunities, and reviving the supply of investable resources as will another round of aid-financed government consumption.
Cryptically, the conference “tasked Strauss-Kahn to take their views forward to the Group of Twenty (G-20) summit in London in early April.” Since Mr. Strauss-Kahn has already spoken out on the need for further fiscal stimulus and banking reform, he can presumably be depended on to deliver that message. But a bolder message from African ministers and governors that their predominant interest was in an expanding global economy with better trade and investment opportunities would have been refreshing and more in keeping with the African renaissance of recent years.
The Eurozone countries that, at the time of this writing, seem opposed to a further stimulus may well be encouraged in that view by the perception that their African colleagues can be fobbed off with some crumbs from the table.
Robert Liebenthal
Lusaka, Zambia