Antoinette Sayeh, IMF Africa Head at SAIS: ‘The Region is Catching Up’

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African agriculture, African governance, Antoinette Sayeh, Burkina Faso, Deborah Brautigam, IMF, Infrastructure in Africa, Liberia, SAIS, Shanta Devarajan, Uganda, World Bank

The last time I heard the head of the Africa division of a global financial institution speak on Massachusetts Avenue (Shanta Devarajan of the World Bank at Brookings), I was thoroughly displeased.  Yesterday, I heard Antoinette Sayeh, former Finance Minister of Liberia and currently the Director of the Africa Department at the IMF speak on “Drivers of Growth in Middle and Low-income sub-Saharan Africa.”  Although one can almost always find a bone to pick (keep reading for what it was this time), on the whole, I found her macro-economically focused remarks to hit most of the notes I would like to hear.

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George Washington University Engages Africa – The David Miller Lecture

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African elections, Amina Salum Ali, Antoinette Sayeh, David Miller Lecture, Elliott School African affairs, Obama Africa Policy, Todd Moss, US - Africa relations

The annual David Miller lecture, which I have only attended once, will be held tonight at the Elliott School for International Affairs.  GW has arranged a bevy of panelists (4, perhaps one for each year?) to speak on the next 4 years of US-Africa relations.

Antoinette Sayeh (former Liberian finance minister, now with the IMF) and Amina Salum Ali (AU rep to the US) clearly stand out as the more interesting speakers.  Also crowding the podium are Todd Moss of the Center for Global Development and a GW professor.  Given the limited time available, it would certainly have been preferable to focus on the two African speakers.

Todd Moss certainly has his choice of plumb speaking events in DC and he rarely offers any public insights that wouldn’t be contained in the pages of the Economist (though I must admit my experience with him is not extensive).