“Bad News For Liberia” -Dr. Tipoteh Says Current WB Projection untrue -Says It’s a case of growth without development
MONROVIA – Renowned Liberian economist, Dr. Togba-Nah Tipoteh, says the 2021 Annual Update of the World Bank which indicates that the economy of Liberia experienced strong growth in 2021 at 5.0 per cent could not be considered good news for Liberia, especially when the growth rate for 2020 was a declining 3.0 per cent.
“The World Bank’s good news is actually bad news for Liberia because the living conditions of the people of Liberia are worsening. It is not good news for any person who cannot talk but whose finger nails are growing long. The World Bank is not telling the Truth. The World Bank Update is bad news for Liberia because the Human Development Index for Liberia is 0.32 per cent, with only four countries higher than Liberia among 174 countries in the world in 2021,” Dr. Tipoteh said.
Making the statement in a commentary titled: “Strong Growth is weak development” in reaction to the World Bank’s latest economic outlook on Liberia, the famed economist, said the truth that economic growth does not necessarily bring economic development is nothing new. He postulated that this truth has been widely known since the 1950s, when the economy of Liberia exhibited the second highest growth rate per capita in the world while the economy of Liberia showed that less than one per cent of the people of Liberia accounted for more than sixty per cent of the income and wealth of Liberia.
“This phenomenon has come to be known as economic growth without economic development or growth without development for short. Since the 1950s, the economy of Liberia has experienced high, middle, low and negative growth rates, while the economy of Liberia experienced no development, meaning worsening living conditions for the vast majority of the people of Liberia.
“The problem with the World Bank’s good news is that it gives the government of Liberia the reason to continue saying that things are getting better for Liberia in the midst of systemic poverty that has now become the pretext for violence, including coup d’etat and civil war. Ironically, it is the World Bank, with the United States of America (USA) as the godfather, that promotes poverty generation in Liberia through the colonial production system that does not prioritize Value Addition for Liberia. Witness the support of the prevailing poverty generation system in Liberia, as seen in the grants, loans and budgetary support.
“How can the Truth be told with all of the big power of the World Bank? The Truth is being told as seen in the raising of awareness that is motivating the people of Liberia to take non-violent actions through the Rule of Law to transform Liberia from a state of injustice to a state of Justice, where Justice, the only ingredient for Peace and Progress in any country, will prevail Let us remember that Truth crushed by the most powerful forces will rise!!!” Dr. Tipoteh alarmed.
Comrade Togba Nah Tipoteh, you are wrong. The World Bank is right. The EFFICIENCY CRITERION (of political economy ) says if the overall benefits to any and all people of doing something outweigh the overall costs to any and all people of doing it, IT IS EFFICIENT TO DO IT.
Whereas, if the overall costs to any and all people outweigh the overall benefits to any and all people of doing something IT IS INEFFICIENT TO DO IT.
Accordingly, your argument here is baseless and does not and cannot pass the scrutiny of logic and argument. FOR
(1) if your argument that ” the living conditions of the people of Liberia are worsening” had any realistic basis NEITHER THE EFFICIENCY CRITERION OF POLITICAL ECONOMY VIS A VIS WHAT WE SHOULD DEMAND FROM THE ECONOMY NOR
(2) THE RETROSPECTIVE VOTING STANDARD, PRINCIPLE, AND PHENOMENON IN WHICH THE CITIZENRY OR VOTERS ASK “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY” WOULD BE ON THE SIDE OF HIS EXCELLENCY DR. GEORGE MANNEH WEAH AND HIS POLICIES!!!
In short, if there were no nationwide unprecedented and massive developments and achievements been made by this government since its ascension to power in 2018 (as you want the naive or the ignoramus to believe), the voters and the citizenry in toto would not be trumpeting from the Wologisi, the Putu and Nimba and Bong Ranges down the southern shores that they are set to give His Excellency President George Manneh Weah A SECOND TERM!!