Even as the West turns its back on the world, Africa must embrace free trade

How fast the world changes. There was once a time when global financial institutions pushed neo-liberal policies on African economies, even as my organisation, Unctad, repeatedly warned of the potential dangers of opening up to globalised markets. And we were right.

Unregulated capital markets eventually wrought enormous damage in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa. No wonder this period produced the phrase “casino capitalism.”