Monday, January 26, 2009
Having studied the economies of Middle East and North Africa, the Index of Economic Freedom concludes that "People need freedom to be productive, but oil does not generate the incentives needed for societies to embrace openness,". "To the contrary, an abundance of oil seems most often to inspire repression." Oil rich sub-Saharan African countries are no different. However, Ghana’s expected paltry revenues from oil as noted in this report might not mimic the scenario described above.
