By DAMBISA MOYOTHE PANDEMIC’S scale and virulence means it is destroying economies as much as it is claiming lives. Poor countries look as if they will suffer the worst, in particular those in Africa, home to the most impoverished. But the world need not be passive in the face of the calamity. A modern “Marshall Plan” for Africa, modelled after the big aid package that America provided European countries after the second world war, could prevent a humanitarian tragedy and pay dividends for generations.A decade ago I gained notoriety as a critic of large-scale foreign-aid programmes that flow from Western countries to developing economies. I argued that over $1trn of aid provided over the previous 60 years had failed to improve living standards across Africa. I argued that, worse still, it had harmed, not helped, the continent by fuelling corruption, fostering dependence and creating economic malaise.Yet today it is clear that Africa urgently needs a […]
The world after Covid-19
