----- Original Message ----- From: Chris Burford <cburford at gn.apc.org> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Thursday, September 02, 1999 1:54 AM Subject: Re: New approach to debt called for
> Why should a fund of 200 billion dollars a year *not* make a difference to
> Africa, for projects on the social infrastructure, for education and
health?
>
> It might pay for aids drugs. (Capitalists are always keen on charity if it
> helps their profits.)
>
> How would such a sum of money "somehow" "make its way to Africa". Apart
> from flying there, or moving there by the beneficent unseen hand of
> capitalism, it might actually be directed there. Not for capitalist
profit,
> which is the direct motivation of FDI.
>
FDI = foreign direct investment. World Total FDI inflows 1998: $400 billion; inflows to Africa, $4.7 billion. 1.17% of total.
My point: $200 billion could make a difference in Africa, but I think the likelihood of its getting there is pretty slim. "Official" organizations like the World Bank and the IMF still need motivations to send huge sums of cash that way. They won't send it out of the goodness of their hearts. I suspect that they would need motivations that could also draw FDI there in the first place.
Christian