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Pulling the plug

Jonathan Rosenthal: Africa editor, The Economist

Cuts in aid to Africa will have a positive impact in the long term

Remittances will become even more important than aid

PERHAPS THE only thing thicker than the syrup drizzled over the petit fours

served at African Union (AU) summits is the irony in the speeches given by

those eating them. Between meals largely paid for by Western donors, African

leaders take to the podium to denounce Western countries for having too

much influence. Yet for all the hypocrisy, they have a point: handouts can

cause economic problems and undermine sovereignty.

Dambisa Moyo argued in her book “Dead Aid” in 2009 that aid increases poverty by
fuelling corruption and making exports more expensive. “Aid is not benign, it’s
malignant,” she wrote. When Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, later said “it is
obvious that the aid bus will not take Africa where it has to be,” he spoke for many on
the continent. Even so, aid has kept increasing, from $129bn in 2010 to $169bn in 2019.
Africa has long been the biggest recipient.