Debt and destruction in Senegal

News|Bretton Woods Project|24 November 2003|update 37|url
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A new report by Demba Moussa Dembélé for the World Development Movement condemns the interventions of the World Bank and IMF in Senegal. It coincides with the launch of WDM's 'Colludo: whodunit to the world's poor' campaign that seeks to "expose those responsible for pushing a radical free market agenda onto the poorest countries". The 71-page report argues that:

• the past twenty years of IMF and World Bank policies in Senegal have been unsuccessful in terms of national economic performance and social indicators
• electricity privatisation and liberalisation of the groundnut sector had enormous economic and social costs
• IMF and World Bank intervention in Senegal has eroded democratic institutions' ability to formulate national economic and social policies.
• IMF and World Bank policies have imposed unilateral trade liberalisation on the country, undermining its bargaining position in trade negotiations.

The study concludes that twenty years of IMF and World Bank intervention in Senegal has left the country "with little chance of achieving almost all of the MDGs, unless there is a significant change in thinking. There is a need to contemplate alternative policies, that are genuinely home-grown". The Colludo campaign invites supporters to take action against debt and the conditions attached to it.

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Published: 24 November 2003 , last edited: 12 February 2009

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