The imprisoned Bennese opponent, Reckya Madougou, addressed the issue of the African economy on his Facebook page. Yesterday, Tuesday, November 14, 2023, the politician dealt more precisely with the credibility of favorable economic prospects for Africa, highlighting a frequent gap between these projections and the economic difficulties facing the populations. For her, perhaps it is time to question the conventional view that places economic growth at the center of Africa’s transformation. The former Minister of Justice emphasized that the optimistic announcements of the past have not always reflected the daily reality of millions of people.
These projections could be economic mirages
Reckya Madougou refers to the recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) Sub-Saharan Africa Economic Outlook, which projects an economic recovery by 2024. However, he suggested in his post that these projections could be economic mirages, producing results disconnected from everyday life. of the population As a realist Afro-optimist, he cited the story of Sierra Leone to illustrate the disconnect between GDP growth rates and human reality.
He also highlighted persistent challenges, including ethnic, political, economic and social exclusion, which are not always objectively taken into account by growth indicators. Reckya Madougou questions the need for prospective and intellectual autonomy in Africa, to mark a break with imported models “without adaptation effort”. It is proposed to exploit African specificities, such as the fertility of the land and the climatic conditions favorable to productive agriculture.
The former minister responsible for Microfinance, Youth and Women’s Employment also encouraged an approach more adapted to local realities, while taking advantage of relevant elements of Western models. “To those who tirelessly emphasize that the Sahara, with its 9 million square kilometers, represents approximately 25% of the continent’s surface, it is worth remembering that it is proportionately smaller than the Eurasian or North American tundra. With them the notion of cursing is not part of the conversation” she concluded.
