IMF & WORLD BANK HAVE NOT HELPED AFRICA

How can we trust institutions established during colonial times by the very forces that colonised us? This is the question posed by Fadhel Kaboub (@FadhelKaboub on X), an associate professor of economics at Ohio's Denison University, who critiques global financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Despite their inclusive names, these institutions act as neo-colonial tools, deepening poverty and dependency in Africa and the Global South.

After decades of so-called ‘aid,’ little progress has been made in Africa, while Western countries advance by exploiting its resources. For example, the foreign-backed proxy war over natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has lasted over 30 years. Instead of addressing exploitation, the World Bank supports projects like the Inga Dam, which critics say facilitate further resource extraction under the guise of aid.

Western powers, led by the US and supported by Europe and the G7, control these institutions. They back initiatives like the Lobito Corridor, a 1,300-kilometre strip of land featuring a railway that snakes through Zambia, the DRC and Angola to ship Africa’s resources across the Atlantic Ocean. The World Bank also supported apartheid South Africa, a history it prefers to forget. 

Given that Africa pays out more in debt and resource extraction than it receives in aid, is it not time for the rest of the continent to reject these colonial-era models and pursue African-led development, like our siblings in the Sahel? 

Video credit: @lynnngugi on Instagram