Battling Africa’s Resource Curse

In an article in this month’s Africa in Fact, Joshua Greenstein and I proposed measures that could help direct Africa’s natural resource wealth into investments for development—instead of into the pockets of corrupt officials. We argue that African governments, donors, multilateral institutions, the extractive industry, banks, and civil society all have roles to play in boosting transparency and accountability, and we offer policy prescriptions on how the challenge can be addressed. As the article concludes:

The steps taken thus far to increase transparency are promising but woefully insufficient. Coordinated international action is needed. These reforms, while not a panacea, might help countries across Africa beat the resource curse and translate natural resource riches into sustainable and inclusive growth.

You can read the full article here.