"Aid is good, business is better," an op-ed by Sirleaf

There was a beautiful op-ed in yesterday’s International Herald Tribune by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Nicky Oppenheimer, the chairman of De Beers. The op-ed is called “Aid is good, business is better.”

Here are my favorite parts:

Why, then, is Africa still lagging behind the rest of the world on most indicators of development?

The answer, we are told, is that Africa isn’t using aid properly. So African governments devote enormous time and energy to discussing, among themselves and with organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank, how to improve the impact of aid.

Aid is important for Africa’s poorest countries, but we must also address the real reason why growth stalls: The cost of doing business is just too high.

…the international debate on development must be reshaped. At the heart of development is the relationship between governments, their citizens and their own private sector. Yet the international debate on development is by and large still focused on the interaction of donors, NGOs, and recipient governments.

Effective use of aid can support African reforms, but it must not be the organizing principle for African development. The key to success will be the extent to which African governments can provide the private sector with the right incentives to add value to the economy, so both business and government can concentrate on what each does best.