(May 10, 2010) A report sponsored by the United Nations, and overseen by Jeffrey Sachs, urges rich countries to spend more on cutting hunger and poverty in the developing world. But there are still plenty of cynics.
Foreign aid and under-development in Africa
(April 17, 2010) Foreign aid has generally benefited the ruling elites in Africa, by among other things, enabling and perpetuating corrupt governments’ hold on power, and by extension, entrenching the pervasive underdevelopment. Over the past five decades, foreign emergency assistance to Africa has helped to avert hardship for many of Africa’s poor, but failed to promote any significant economic development.
Aid in Haiti creates competition with local business owners
(March 31, 2010) Haiti-based businessman Maulik Radia has weathered two coup d’etats, two major hurricanes and now an earthquake in the country he’s worked in for the past 25 years.
How best to help Haiti
(March 31, 2010) All past international efforts to turn Haiti into a functioning democracy have failed. There are better ways forward.
Tackling corruption in Haiti is possible. Here’s how
(March 30, 2010) Haiti and its donors need to face up to bad governance and failed aid. They need to develop a strategy against corruption. This means more than controls and audits, more than training and technical assistance, needed though they are. We must ask how the design and implementation of Haiti’s reconstruction and development strategy might address what public administration experts Derick Brinkerhoff and Carmen Halpern called the sanctioned plunder that was and remains the core of Haitian politics.
HIPC debt relief is not the solution
(March 30, 2010) HIPC was a necessary evil we agree. We also recognize that it is a stop-gap measure that addresses the symptoms of our under-development, rather than the causes a half-hearted response to the ever-growing agitation for total debt cancellation that characterized the 1990s. But, even total debt cancellation will not solve our problems. At best, it will provide a temporary respite from the excruciating poverty we have known for decades now.
The NS Interview: Dambisa Moyo, economist
(March 5, 2010) Interview with Dambisa Moyo from The New Statesman.com.
Foreign aid takes another blow–this time in Australia
(March 3, 2010) Criticism of the high salaries being offered to contractors working with AusAID, Austrialia’s national aid agency, is the latest example of the increased scrutiny facing aid agencies around the world. The criticism comes after a recent audit showed that a number of aid workers are earning more money than the country’s Prime Minister. And they’re doing so tax-free.
Marshall Plan to Haiti? Not so fast.
(March 2, 2010) As calls for a “Marshall Plan for Haiti” continue to make headlines, an increasing number of reports are beginning to ask: is aid the answer? A recent report from PBS interviews a number of aid supporters and critics, asking them if a massive aid program to Haiti is the best option.
Ecuador’s Sovereign Default: A Pyrrhic Victory for Odious Debt?
(February 28, 2010) Ecuador’s strategic default on some of its external debt last year has drawn much commentary and generated passionate reactions. Some commentators who advocate creating a mechanism for addressing odious or illegitimate debt encouraged Ecuador to repudiate its obligations and have generally applauded its decision to do so. For those who are sympathetic to efforts to create such a mechanism, however, this enthusiasm may be misplaced.
Ecuador’s Sovereign Default: A Pyrrhic Victory for Odious Debt?
(February 28, 2010) Ecuador’s strategic default on some of its external debt last year has drawn much commentary and generated passionate reactions. Some commentators who advocate creating a mechanism for addressing odious or illegitimate debt encouraged Ecuador to repudiate its obligations and have generally applauded its decision to do so. For those who are sympathetic to efforts to create such a mechanism, however, this enthusiasm may be misplaced.
Chopsticks mercantilism: China’s involvement in Africa
(February 15, 2010) China’s engagement with Africa should be a boon. Its overall trade with Africa rose from $10.6 billion in 2000 to $75.5 billion in 2008, propelling Africa’s growth rate to 5.8% in 2008, its best performance since 1974. China is now Africa’s second-largest trading partner after the United States, importing a third of its crude oil from Africa…But China’s engagement is increasingly being seen as odious, predatory and brutish. The initial enthusiasm that greeted Chinese investments in Africa has now cooled.
Ethiopia prepares case for megahydropower project funding
(February 5, 2010) The Ethiopian government is preparing its case to attempt to convince the World Bank to fund a mega-hydropower project in the Horn of Africa country.
Bolivia takes action on debt audits
(February 1, 2010) Following on from Ecuador’s path-breaking precedent, Bolivia will set up a commission to audit external debt to assess the legitimacy of past loans. Bolivia’s current heavy debt load dates back to periods of dictatorship when loans were borrowed without public consent.
Haiti heads for debt crisis as emergency loans pile up earthquake
(January 31, 2010) Anti-poverty campaigners warn emergency funds loaded to Haiti, at the height of crisis, will become a heavy debt burden for the quake devastated country. Already caught in a cycle of repayment for loans racked up by dictators from the western governments that kept the country’s looters in power, Haiti can’t afford its future in the present form of help.
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