Am in Addis at the IGC’s Africa Growth Forum. Had the chance to listen/learn from one of the architects of the country’s economic transformation underway. Some tough choices had to be made, corresponding to the clear long term vision of a determined leadership. Party politics do not interfere with that vision. 11% growth rate over […]
Policy dilemmas and alternatives in a post-Ebola Economy
Sierra Leone’s economic performance in the three years preceding the Ebola outbreak was impressive. The decline in iron ore prices occurred at the same time and wreaked further havoc to the economy. Paradoxically, some of the consequences were off-set by the Ebola dividend—budget support, limited debt relief, and more aid from donors including the IMF, […]
The Miracle That Became a Debacle: Iron Ore in Sierra Leone
Outstanding and explosive piece by David Mihalyi on revenue management posted on the Natural Resource Management Institute blog. Mihalyi writes about the “deep turmoil” resource-rich, developing countries are experiencing due to low commodity prices: The impact of the price fall on the plans of all of these countries is daunting, and their governments face steep challenges in […]
The Ugly, the Bad, and the Good of Ebola
After the misery, suffering and desolation caused by the Epidemic, the bad is slowly revealing itself and finally for Ebola, some Good seems to have been lurking among it all. There is enough written and still pouring in about the Ugly part of the Ebola epidemic. Sadly, in addition to the human misery of over […]
Africa Rising?
I recently read an article in the Washington Post by Ann Telnaes and Karen Attiah that left me asking “How can we paint the picture of Africa Rising on/against the background of so many signs from the 80s?” That painting must be three dimensional: Africa Rising – new bridges, 6 lane roads, glistening apartment blocks, […]
Interpreting data for post-Ebola Recovery
Its not always easy to interpret data. Take the case of data on per capita expenditure on health by Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone as published by the World Bank Health expenditure per capita (current US$) Data from World Bank This shows that Salone is spending far more on health per capita than either Guinea […]