Financial Crisis Can Open Doors for Poor Countries

Posted to the web 9 October 2008 Mike Muller Johannesburg INFRASTRUCTURE can lead to development - but will it? A month bumping along the roads of Mozambique from Maputo to the Rovuma River provided the context for some ideas about public infrastructure and economic development and how both are financed. Given that according to the news broadcasts capitalism was collapsing , the obvious question was what effect the financial crisis would have on poor countries such as Mozambique? And it occurred that from crisis could emerge an opportunity to restructure the global financial institutions in ways that would better serve poor countries in this difficult world. Riaan Meyer correctly identified the growing role of China in commercial banking in Africa on this page earlier this week. But between government budgets and commercial... [read full story]