President Paul Kagame officially opened the Capital Markets East Africa International Conference which is taking place in Kigali, under the theme “Accelerating Economic Development.”
During a session on “Making Markets Work for Growth,” President Kagame intervened:
The question of preference between markets and aid can only be asked in Africa, not in any other region of this world.
Let’s not be diplomatic, let’s not gloss over issues. Markets are markets. We know what they offer outweigh what we have in aid by thousands of times. All kinds of wealth lying all over the place in Africa and being recycled to us in forms of aid and in the end we are told, you must be humble and quiet and not say anything. Let’s not be diplomatic, let’s not gloss over issues. Markets are markets. We know what they offer outweigh what we have in aid by thousand of times.
Aid is more political than anything else. Markets are less political, they are neutral.”
