This post might be (it very much is!) a very subjective and somewhat narrow minded view on the notion of development and may come back to haunt me in my future search for a job.
Anyone familiar with the Keynesian/neoclassical agenda will know its central theme of: ECONOMIC GROWTH OR BURST!!! In that, all economies must strive to attain economic growth (usually no matter what it takes). Thus the measure of economy’s success is in the numbers, its GDP growth rate, its GDP per capita and anything GDP. This has definitely reflected in the way developing countries draw their policies and where the government puts their money. In my president’s recent state of the nation address, his central emphasis was on the fact that the Ghana had achieved an unprecedented- in the nation’s history- growth rate of 14%. But I ask,
1. Where is this growth coming from?
2. Who is benefitting?
3. Is this sustainable?
The way I see it…
Of course the answer to the first question is most likely OIL! and other natural resources. I don’t know the answer to the second one but im sure lots of Ghanaians will attest to the fact that times have been very difficult these past couple of years. And for the last question… I seriously doubt that.
This notion of economic growth reflecting a country’s success I think is not very applicable in the developing country context especially for African countries. There needs to be a different set of variables or indicators in measuring the development of a country that takes into consideration these 3 questions above especially the last one. Developing countries need frameworks for development especially suited for them to capture their priorities. What’s the point of a 14% economic growth if this growth is from the export of natural resources and most of the monetary gains go out to these foreign oil companies? * What’s the point of a 14% growth without strong governance and institutions to see to the redistribution of these gains from growth? What’s the point of being classed a middle income country if your social development indicators are appalling?
I just think developing countries need to reflect their own commitment to developing their citizens not keep waiting for the ‘invisible hand’ to trickle down whatever comes from economic growth.
p.s - my view on these oil revenue extracting foreign companies is simple. It is our oil, our land, our country. They either deal by our terms or let the oil stay in the ground. Afterall, if these companies are taking most of the gains then with or without it we still end up poor.
