What to do about the Crisis?

I asked this question to a few of my colleagues (Africans, Latinos and Europeans) at the Bank these past 2 weeks.

To sum up these experts position: Not much!! Ask for more and quicker disbursement of WB/IMF resources..probably

According to them, most African countries have been suffering from the impact of the food crisis, and that is not yet over! On top of that adding the financial crisis which immediate result would be greater pressure on bilateral financial support, we are in for a though one.

This is particularly worrisome, because from Senegal to Cote d’Ivoire, from Tanzania to Chad, the formal private sector in our economies depends for the vast majority on government contracts. So a financial trouble in public finance has a direct impact on our formal private sector.

Since most of our nations do not have the resources for a fiscal stimulus for themselves, and they don’t even have the fiscal space, the public and the private sector will be suffering in 2009.

During the food crisis, the Bank estimated that 130 million people (globally) fell into poverty as a result of the food crisis; with the financial crisis, an additional 53 million people.

So the question for us today is WHERE DO WE FIND THE RESSOURCES TO TACKLE THESE CHALLENGES? I look forward to your comments and suggestions