Dead Aid: Why Aid isn't Working and How There is Another Way for Africa, by Dambisa Moyo, Allen Lane, £14.99
Developing countries in Africa are like junkies hooked on the continual drip-feed of aid that comes from western governments and agencies, which are also symbiotically locked into a dependent relationship.
This is how Dambisa Moyo deconstructs the perceived wisdom about aid and Africa. Africa is underdeveloped, therefore it needs aid, and even though aid has been pouring into countries for the last 60 years with little regard to where it's going, how it's regulated or whether it actually helps countries construct healthy independent economies, it's a gift that gives on giving.
Institutions such as the World Bank and IMF are prime culprits in perpetuating this - if they didn't give, even to blatantly corrupt countries such as Mobutu's Zaire, they wouldn't receive payments on the debt already owed to them.
Moyo compares aid with the Marshall Plan, the US- funded reconstruction of Europe, which had specific goals and was largely about physical reconstruction, whereas aid props up every aspect of most African economies. In fact, during the prime years of aid flows between 1970 and 1998 poverty increased from 11% to 66% throughout Africa, a damning indictment of its efficacy. "One of the most depressing aspects of the whole aid fiasco is that donors, policymakers, governments, academicians and development specialists know, in their heart of hearts that aid doesn't work, hasn't worked and won't work."
While her analysis of the history of aid is very compelling, it's the practical solutions proposed by Zambian-born Moyo, who has an economics doctorate and has worked at the World Bank and Goldman Sachs, which mark her book out.
The first of these is that African countries should issue debt bonds on the global financial markets, something South Africa has already started doing, and improve their global credit rating.
Trade barriers and protectionism need to come down - to make it cheaper and easier for African countries to trade between themselves and form regional trading blocs. China has long been exploiting the investment potential in Africa with foreign direct investment, opening up new markets and Africa needs to reach out to other countries on a similar level. On a small scale, microfinance and small-scale loans can help encourage a spirit of entrepreneurialism.
It's a fascinating case for a new approach to African countries' problems, displaying her fervent belief that African people are best-placed to direct their own development.
