Thank you mister Mikheil Saakashvili but it's obvious even for the illiterate, that reforms are needed in Africa, what isn't is how to implement them efficiently, while we need to do everything from scratch...............
Africa rising but in need of economic reforms
Friday, 11 April 2014 | 11:43 GMT
Africa is the fastest growing continent in the world but still lacks adequate economic reforms.
The African Development Bank says that even though more than two-thirds of the continent has registered overall improvement in the quality of economic governance in recent years, and the cost of starting a business has fallen by more than two-thirds over the past seven years, the continent needs to make major changes in its economic reforms to achieve its full potential.
Speaking in Lagos Nigeria, former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili agrees and urges Africa to continue working towards improving economic reforms.
“When I was driving from the airport in Lagos, I saw windows without light and that brought back memories of my country in the 90s,” Mikheil Saakashvili told CNBC Africa.
Mikheil Saakashvili is a Georgian politician and was the third president of Georgia for two consecutive terms from January 2004 to November 2013 and brought about major changes in the country.
Driving change in economic reform in Africa
Joining CNBC Africa to reflect on what it takes to drive economic reforms change in Africa is Mikheil Saakashvili, former president of Georgia.
“We had very similar problems, power failure, infrastructure problems, we had a huge problem with infrastructure. Huge problems with the Bureaucracy and poverty,” he said
Due to a civil strife in Georgia in the 1990’s the country’s economy suffered severe damage but has recovered tremendously today. Brought on by gains in the industrial and service sectors, the country’s GDP grew significantly and the country is currently number eight on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking.
“We moved from 112th to number 8. At the end if you to the world’s international organisation, we have the world’s fastest registration of property, world’s fastest registration of companies, world’s fastest issuing of ID’s,”
“90 per cent of regulations was scraped, we scraped all the agencies because they were there to extort money from people and not to help them. We scraped the entire police force, and we were for a few months almost without no police,” he explained
“The main lesson is that, we had 10 per cent of society that was flourishing in corruption, that was flourishing on people not having electricity, what we did was that we went against the interest of this 10 per cent,”
According to him, even though the 10 per cent were small in number, they had interest in keeping the status quo or even making things worse and though they were numerically small, they had money, power and the media.
“I saw in Lagos, there are lots of improvements on electricity, there was some improvement on transportation. Once you show even a small difference and people believe you that you can deliver, then, they follow you,” he added.
Source:
http://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/western-africa/2014/04/11/africa-still-in-need-of-economic-reforms/
Africa is the fastest growing continent in the world but still lacks adequate economic reforms.
The African Development Bank says that even though more than two-thirds of the continent has registered overall improvement in the quality of economic governance in recent years, and the cost of starting a business has fallen by more than two-thirds over the past seven years, the continent needs to make major changes in its economic reforms to achieve its full potential.
Speaking in Lagos Nigeria, former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili agrees and urges Africa to continue working towards improving economic reforms.
“When I was driving from the airport in Lagos, I saw windows without light and that brought back memories of my country in the 90s,” Mikheil Saakashvili told CNBC Africa.
Mikheil Saakashvili is a Georgian politician and was the third president of Georgia for two consecutive terms from January 2004 to November 2013 and brought about major changes in the country.
Driving change in economic reform in Africa
Joining CNBC Africa to reflect on what it takes to drive economic reforms change in Africa is Mikheil Saakashvili, former president of Georgia.
“We had very similar problems, power failure, infrastructure problems, we had a huge problem with infrastructure. Huge problems with the Bureaucracy and poverty,” he said
Due to a civil strife in Georgia in the 1990’s the country’s economy suffered severe damage but has recovered tremendously today. Brought on by gains in the industrial and service sectors, the country’s GDP grew significantly and the country is currently number eight on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking.
“We moved from 112th to number 8. At the end if you to the world’s international organisation, we have the world’s fastest registration of property, world’s fastest registration of companies, world’s fastest issuing of ID’s,”
“90 per cent of regulations was scraped, we scraped all the agencies because they were there to extort money from people and not to help them. We scraped the entire police force, and we were for a few months almost without no police,” he explained
“The main lesson is that, we had 10 per cent of society that was flourishing in corruption, that was flourishing on people not having electricity, what we did was that we went against the interest of this 10 per cent,”
According to him, even though the 10 per cent were small in number, they had interest in keeping the status quo or even making things worse and though they were numerically small, they had money, power and the media.
“I saw in Lagos, there are lots of improvements on electricity, there was some improvement on transportation. Once you show even a small difference and people believe you that you can deliver, then, they follow you,” he added.
Source:
http://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/western-africa/2014/04/11/africa-still-in-need-of-economic-reforms/
1 - 20 of 49 Posts
^^
Bidonv, if Rwanda can do it, why can't others?
Rwanda improved its doing business, economic freedom etc. Now you can open a business in just a couple hours, a couple years ago this needed months of paperwork and bribes.
Rwanda is also arresting corrupt ministers, businessmen etc..
The regimes don't want to do reforms, not because they don't know how to implent them, but because many governments have direct links with businesses..
So people need to put pressure on the governments to do real reforms and forbid ministers etc to do business.
Bidonv, if Rwanda can do it, why can't others?
Rwanda improved its doing business, economic freedom etc. Now you can open a business in just a couple hours, a couple years ago this needed months of paperwork and bribes.
Rwanda is also arresting corrupt ministers, businessmen etc..
The regimes don't want to do reforms, not because they don't know how to implent them, but because many governments have direct links with businesses..
So people need to put pressure on the governments to do real reforms and forbid ministers etc to do business.
If Nigeria for instance was to "do a Rwanda" in terms of reform (ease of business, corruption) and "do an Angola/Ethi" in terms of infrastructure, the results would be incredible.
I totally agree^^
Bidonv, if Rwanda can do it, why can't others?
Rwanda improved its doing business, economic freedom etc. Now you can open a business in just a couple hours, a couple years ago this needed months of paperwork and bribes.
Rwanda is also arresting corrupt ministers, businessmen etc..
The regimes don't want to do reforms, not because they don't know how to implent them, but because many governments have direct links with businesses..
So people need to put pressure on the governments to do real reforms and forbid ministers etc to do business.
The political leadership is against reform, and regional integration because they will lose their control on this piggy bank.
Govt has to be small and limited, and allow business to thrive.
Rwanda isn't a model for me at least not yet, and if reforms were as easier as you say to implement then why not copy-paste the Danish or Norwegian legislation in Niger and in the next decade this one will be a Scandinavian country...............:lol: it doesn't work like that.^^
Bidonv, if Rwanda can do it, why can't others?
Rwanda improved its doing business, economic freedom etc. Now you can open a business in just a couple hours, a couple years ago this needed months of paperwork and bribes.
Rwanda is also arresting corrupt ministers, businessmen etc..
The regimes don't want to do reforms, not because they don't know how to implent them, but because many governments have direct links with businesses..
So people need to put pressure on the governments to do real reforms and forbid ministers etc to do business.
A symptom of this is lack of regional integration. So no matter how many times they meet to thrash out a free trade deal, it doesn't work. A company from the US or EU with good bribes gets a deal first.
The extractive economic cycle continues.
The extractive economic cycle continues.
What do we have african countries to share between us except our misery?A symptom of this is lack of regional integration. So no matter how many times they meet to thrash out a free trade deal, it doesn't work. A company from the US or EU with good bribes gets a deal first.
The extractive economic cycle continues.
We have a lot of trade issues in the continent. We don't just have misery. Our company tries to do business in the region, but we face delays because of red tape. Remove this and allow free movement of goods and services without bribes. As Africans we should have competitive tariffs compared to EU companies.What do we have african countries to share between us except our misery?
Afrcan economies need serious work on formalizing economies so that there are clear and accurate stats on exact economic growths.
All i hears is all these high growths whatever per year and all, but i never seen stats about numbers , types of Jobs created and their salaries ranges etc....
Also, they need to know the sizes of the workforce. by ages, by professions, by gender,by education levels etd, i mean every detail.
The answers are found in details.. Like Germans say, the devil hides in details.
Coming out with random numbers without details is useless.
All i hears is all these high growths whatever per year and all, but i never seen stats about numbers , types of Jobs created and their salaries ranges etc....
Also, they need to know the sizes of the workforce. by ages, by professions, by gender,by education levels etd, i mean every detail.
The answers are found in details.. Like Germans say, the devil hides in details.
Coming out with random numbers without details is useless.
What do we have african countries to share between us except our misery?
We have a huge market for all kinds of products.
If we can keep it "African" to the most part ...
What we need is "made in Africa" to feed this hungry awakening beast.
As for misery... It was still around even when Jesus and walked this earth.
I agree with the points said here. Economic reforms suitable for each African nation and her needs are very much needed. My main issue with African countries today is that intra African trade is very low compared to other continents. Africans need to trade and invest more in each others countries.
A large proportion of a country's GDP has to come from that kind of trade. Not just exporting raw materials and agriculture etc. Also adding value to products is necessary. A large country like Nigeria that's been exporting oil for decades and then only last year is talking about refineries is simply too sad for words. Nigeria imports refined oil, while it exports raw oil.
It's best to invest in human capital as well. Education and health is very important with that. In short, it all starts with people with a vision. African countries can no longer blame anyone else for their troubles. The time to take charge is now.
A large proportion of a country's GDP has to come from that kind of trade. Not just exporting raw materials and agriculture etc. Also adding value to products is necessary. A large country like Nigeria that's been exporting oil for decades and then only last year is talking about refineries is simply too sad for words. Nigeria imports refined oil, while it exports raw oil.
It's best to invest in human capital as well. Education and health is very important with that. In short, it all starts with people with a vision. African countries can no longer blame anyone else for their troubles. The time to take charge is now.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. - Chinese proverb.
It's a lot easier for Georgia to succeed. It already has a very highly educated and healthy population (compared to any African country), so all it really needs is economic reform. It's a lot more challenging to succeed from zero on all 3 fronts. Rwanda might be a good example of reform, but it is still no richer than Kenya or Tanzania.
Africa needs socio economic reforms..They need budgets for taking care of elderly and disabled people in society
I agree with the points said here. Economic reforms suitable for each African nation and her needs are very much needed. My main issue with African countries today is that intra African trade is very low compared to other continents. Africans need to trade and invest more in each others countries.
A large proportion of a country's GDP has to come from that kind of trade. Not just exporting raw materials and agriculture etc. Also adding value to products is necessary. A large country like Nigeria that's been exporting oil for decades and then only last year is talking about refineries is simply too sad for words. Nigeria imports refined oil, while it exports raw oil.
It's best to invest in human capital as well. Education and health is very important with that. In short, it all starts with people with a vision. African countries can no longer blame anyone else for their troubles. The time to take charge is now.
Africa does have Intra Trade already. The biggest problem is All African countries produce the same thing. Agriculture, Oil and Minerals...no manufacturing......so, what is there else to trade with?
My take is that Africans need to heavily invest in Education, Modern Agroculture and Infra, since they are already reforming their economies by introducing competitive policies or privatisation, although they need to do much more into easy to do business.
I beleive in Domino Effect. If Nigeria gets industrialized Africans will no longer need China, West for import of manufactured goods.
This will Force some other countries to also work on industrialization and that will be the start of a continent wide industrialization.....Domino effect happened in Western world/Europe,us/Canada.
Somino effect has been happening in Asia especially in East Asia. Japanese have humiliated Koreas, China and all SEA, and look at how serious these countries have taken steps to get out of poverty.
Africa needs the samething and i think it something that would happen....Just look at the noise made whemn Nigeria rebased the economy to take the number one stot as the largest economy....South Africans may not admit it, but they got they didn't welcome the news with open arms...they were so used to being the largest, even though they are still ahead in every department.
West Africa would have it domino effect as well, little Ghana with Giant Nigeria and the twins Ivory Coast-Ghana etc....
East Africa you have Ethiopia-Kenya-Tanzania, these countries may be small economies but they somehow proud, Kenya has long enjoyed the prestige as the biggest most competitive, richest economy in the region. But i know the communist Ethiopians (wish they can change their minds and be like China) hate that news because they are the largest country in the region and the second on the continent demographically.
Tanzania also has a thing of it own with Kenyans. even though Tanzanians are the Socialist who need to upgrade themsleves into a competitive economy, at least there is that sense of competition between them.
DRC might be in coma, but politically influntial leaders and even within the general population been getting upset with how the country has declined from the sweet days of the 1970s and all tht's goimg on around us.
I beielive in domino Effect.
Another big domino effect would be between North Africa and South Sahara Africa. If SSA got ahead of NA, the Maghre nations would go crazy. :lol:
Angola is about to overtake Egypt in GDP/capita and already overtaken Morocco.Another big domino effect would be between North Africa and South Sahara Africa. If SSA got ahead of NA, the Maghre nations would go crazy. :lol:
The North African states can trade more with the other countries in West Africa. For now, most West African countries are nowhere close to the standards of life enjoyed in the Maghreb. I wonder why is that?Another big domino effect would be between North Africa and South Sahara Africa. If SSA got ahead of NA, the Maghre nations would go crazy. :lol:
Exactly!It's a lot easier for Georgia to succeed. It already has a very highly educated and healthy population (compared to any African country), so all it really needs is economic reform. It's a lot more challenging to succeed from zero on all 3 fronts. Rwanda might be a good example of reform, but it is still no richer than Kenya or Tanzania.
What Mista and Popa always fail to understand is that it's very easy for an already highly educated country to be reformed that a country with small education.
You have the easy to do business policies in a country like Rwanda and Zimbabwe. But IMO, Zimbo would be progress much faster than Rwanda because companies would take fewer time, spend less to train a workforce that has already a high literacy. Now high educated like Fomer Soviet states that heavily invested in technical anEngineering, as opposed to the mostly non technical found in Africa.
The Sahel guys are landlocked so they have issues trading without good infra. But it'd be interesting to see more weight in SSA. ITd change the direction of the Maghreb from Europe to ssaAnother big domino effect would be between North Africa and South Sahara Africa. If SSA got ahead of NA, the Maghre nations would go crazy. :lol:
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