By Charlie Robertson
MON, JAN 29 2024-theGBJournal|As I tweeted this morning, the military coup leaders who control Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have managed to score the silliest own goal since the UK voted for Brexit
They take out 8% of Ecowas’ GDP and lose access to markets like Nigeria and Ghana, which together have a GDP of $467 billion.
These three countries were already among the poorest in Ecowas, and indeed the world – and leaving won’t help.
To be fair, being members of Ecowas hadn’t made Mali, Burkina Faso or Niger rich. Extremely low levels of adult literacy ensured they could not take full advantage of Ecowas and its trade opportunities.
But so far I’ve seen nothing done by these new leaders to make their countries better off – despite the hopes of the crowds of their supporters when the coups happened
As with Central Africa Republic, the countries most closely aligned to Putin’s Russia, are poor and destined to stay that way
Charlie Robertson, Head of Macro Strategy, FIM Partners UK Ltd
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