Sanusi Lamido Sanusi: Neither the Washington nor Beijing Consensus – developmental models to fit African realities and cultures

The need for radical re-thinking on development strategy is imperative for African countries to be relevant in the global economy. This is further reinforced by the stark reality of extreme poverty in Africa. Over the years, the share of Africa in global trade remained insignificant despite the implementation of the policies that were recommended by international financial and development institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The dismal performance of African economies calls to question, the effectiveness of the economic ideologies being prescribed by international institutions, and points to the need for a paradigm shift in order to achieve sustainable development. Over the last quarter of a century, Africa has been at the receiving end of liberal orthodoxy from these institutions that have persistently advocated, amongst others things, privatization of state-owned enterprises, free trade, intellectual property rights protection and deregulation of foreign direct investment (FDI) as requirements for developing countries to grow and develop. This policy prescription was what John Williamson coined the “Washington Consensus”. This neo-liberal ideology is reflected in the policies of the Bretton Woods Institutions: the IMF, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Specifically, both the IMF and the World Bank condition their offer of assistance to developing countries on the strict adherence to the Washington Consensus policies. The Consensus had continued to be under severe criticism because the performances of countries that adopted its doctrine, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the former Soviet bloc showed that it had failed to deliver sustained growth as promised by its promoters.