Africa Needs Trade and Investment, Not More Aid

Dear IMF Survey:

Your account of the Dar es Salaam conference is depressing.

Yet again, the emphasis was apparently on aid and developed country commitments to deliver more of it. But an effective global fiscal stimulus and action to unblock the credit markets in the north will do at least as much for Africa through higher commodity prices, expanded trade opportunities, and reviving the supply of investable resources as will another round of aid-financed government consumption.

Cryptically, the conference "tasked Strauss-Kahn to take their views forward to the Group of Twenty (G-20) summit in London in early April." Since Mr. Strauss-Kahn has already spoken out on the need for further fiscal stimulus and banking reform, he can presumably be depended on to deliver that message. But a bolder...