Dambisa Moyo – The fatal aid: “We must stop giving so much to Africa, whether in the form of development aid (cash, materials) or credits, from which, moreover, we will never get our heads above water. »
Dambisa Moyo, a clear pedagogy
Through a series of simple examples, the illustrious economist with a clear pedagogy explains his theory:
“A small mosquito net manufacturer in Abidjan will be immediately ruined by Bill Gates’ humanitarian gift of 100,000 nets. Believing in good faith that he is doing the right thing, the billionaire will put the 150 people who lived directly off the local production of the nets out of work. At the same time, he bankrupted an entrepreneur who could have become a local champion. Another 300 people, mostly rubber tree farmers, who had finally found a local outlet for their latex at a better price than that of the exporting factory workers, find themselves once again subjected to the low prices of the international market.
When the mosquito nets are damaged, no one locally will provide replacements, so help will again be called for, or purchased from the state of Côte d’Ivoire with the help of aid. And these nets that Ivorians have become accustomed to will come from where you think: China. With latex paid at low prices where: Ivory Coast. The aid has therefore in the end helped not the Ivory Coast, but China, and by the way the European ship owners who will transport the containers to Africa.
Simple, clear, logical and ultra educational!
Dambisa Moyo, a Harvard graduate who worked at Goldman Sachs, was long fought for her pan-Africanist and sovereignist ideas, before finally being recognized as one of the greatest brains in economic matters. His point is simple and it is to demonstrate that Western aid is pushing Africa into a culture of child welfare that feeds corruption, sterilizes initiatives and deepens poverty. She argues that between 1970 and 1988, when the flow of aid to Africa was at its peak, the poverty rate of the population increased staggeringly: it rose from 11% to 66%. This assertion, which is the starting point of his entire argument, has never been questioned by anyone.
She advocates that Africans themselves find solutions to their economic problems, as the Chinese have done, for example. At the TED 2009 conference, she cited the example of Côte d’Ivoire and Sudan, which cut off financial flows from the World Bank and IMF, had found endogenous solutions to continue to operate: “these two states did not die without international assistance. When someone in the room asked her how this had been possible, she simply replied: “Because we Africans have imagination and are resilient, but we are too often formatted and then dictated by the West.
A Journey of Respect
Idolized in emerging economies, particularly in Latin America and English-speaking African countries, Dambisa Moyo was born and raised in Zambia. She holds degrees in economics from Oxford and Harvard. She worked for the World Bank before joining Goldman Sachs. Time magazine named her one of the most influential women of our time. A consultant for the Financial Times, Bloomberg, New York Times, CNN and many other business media, as well as the OECD, she is expected for her quirky and innovative touch on economic policy.
“Fatal Aid” is an impeccably documented best-seller, an indisputable and due indictment of the development aid that has ruined Africa. To be read at all costs by anyone who still believes that there are no solutions other than those of the IMF and the World Bank. She proposes a multitude of alternative solutions and I understand that these books would be at the bedside of a certain Nana Akufo Addo!
