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Bloggers fear impact of economic crisis on Madagascar
Written by: Global Voices
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As the economic crisis continue to worsen, both US presidential candidates, European leaders and heads of international organizations predict that international aid will have to be reduced. Developing countries like Madagascar which are still relying heavily on international aid fear that such reduction will severely hinder the progress made in social development and reduction of extreme poverty.So will the economic crisis affect Madagascar and how ? Madagascan explains (fr) :
En conclusion, oui, Madagascar sera inévitablement impactée par la crise internationale actuelle. D'une part parce qu'il est prévisible que les Etats resserrent leurs aides aux pays pauvres, d'autre part parce que les grands projets actuels dans le pays auront probablement des problèmes de capacité d'investissement très rapidement, et enfin parce qu'une source importante de richesse du pays, le tourisme, sera fatalement affecté
In conclusion, yes, Madagascar will inevitably be affected by the current global crisis. Firstly, because of the reduced aid to developing countries. Secondly, because many of the
current large mining projects will suffer from a shortage of investors and finally because the other source of wealth of the country, tourism, will certainly be affected.
Randy do
it, a national Malagasy journalist and blogger, provides a “how the marketplace works for
beginners” by using an analogy that involves a fictional rural market place trading monkeys (fr):Dès lors qu’il a le dos tourné, son assistant rassemble les villageois et leur indique les cages, avec les milliers de singes que leur a achetés son patron “Si vous le voulez, leur dit-il, moi, je vous cède ces singes à 35 dollars l’unité. Ainsi, lorsque mon patron reviendra, vous pourrez les lui revendre à 50 dollars. » Les villageois, aveuglés par la perspective de cet enrichissement facile, sortent toutes leurs économies, vendent leurs biens pour racheter les singes. Le magot encaissé, l’assistant disparaît dans la nuit. On ne le verra plus. Ni lui, ni son patron. Dans le village, rien que des singes, courant dans tous les sens. Et Nadim Kalife de conclure son histoire par un édifiant : « Bienvenue dans le monde de la Bourse ! » Eh, oui ! Il y a quelque chose d’aventureux à vendre un singe à dix dollars, puis à le racheter à 35 dollars, en espérant le vendre une seconde fois à 50 dollars.
As soon as the boss turns his back, his assistant gathers the villagers and points to the cages with the thousands of monkeys his boss just purchased. “If you want,” he
tells them, “I will sell those monkeys to you for $35 a piece. When, my boss returns, you can sell them to him for $50.” The villagers, blinded by the prospect of easy money, dive into
their savings and sell all their possessions to buy the monkeys back. Once the money was collected, the assistant vanished into the night. He was never seen again. Not him, and
not his boss. In the village, there is nothing but monkeys running everywhere. And Nadim Kalife to conclude his story: “welcome to the global marketplace!” Clearly, there is something
risky about selling a monkey for $10, buying them back for $35 and trying to resell them at $50.
Finally, Moonlight girl, new blogger from Antsirabe, tells a sobering story of the consequence of extreme poverty and how it affect health care for many
in Madagascar. She recalls a recent encounter in a bus in Antananarivo:She started to cry and tell me that she just gave birth 2 days ago at a famous public hospital. She was poor and didn’t have the money to buy medicine for the baby who suddenly became sick. At this hospital, if you can’t buy the medicines you need, it means you’re waiting for death. They don’t care about the person’s situation. So her baby died, and this woman didn’t have money to take him back home. She lived at Ambatofotsy , which is very far from town. Taking a taxi to those places , will cost a fortune. Now, she’s going to her sister’s house at Ambohipo; to take her child. I was heartbroken and terrified at the same time, thinking about this woman carrying her dead baby around. The driver’s aid, was very angry and started to yell at the woman, and forced her out the bus. He said, that she did something very taboo, about letting a dead be among the living. The poor woman just left the bus, not wanting to cause anymore trouble.View original post.
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