Development aid damages Africa
I've just been reading this, I know it's a few months old but I found it interesting enough to post here.
stop_giving_aid_to_africa_it_s_just_not_working
It is worth noting that she is referring to development aid which is given to governments and not money that is given via charities.
Zambian economist, Dambisa Moyo, says that Africa has not benefitted by development aid from the west - quite the opposite - it has caused damage. Research has shown that 85% of development aid doesn't get used for its intended purpose, it simply gets used to fund corruption and the luxurious lifestyles of leaders. She argues that if the west pulled the plug on development aid then only "the elite will feel the pain. The poor won't even notice the difference. It's not like they ever saw any of that money anyway."
The concequenced of development aid are..
"First and foremost the widespread corruption. The people in power plunder the treasury and the treasury is filled with development aid money. The corruption has contaminated the whole of society. Aid leads to bureaucracy and inflation, to laziness and inertia. Aid hurts exports. Thanks to foreign aid the people in power can afford not to care about their people. But the worst part of it is: aid undermines growth. The economies of those countries that are the most dependent on foreign aid have shrunk by an average of 0.2 percent per year ever since the seventies."
