Poorer countries paid a heavy financial price for political independence. After many decades during which their natural resources were plundered by imperial and colonial powers, they gained independence. But their old colonial rulers departed with their wealth intact. Newly independent countries had to rebuild their infrastructures with few resources.



The political vacuum brought by independence was often filled by leaders who relied increasingly on Western governments. They were encouraged to borrow heavily from rich countries' financial institutions. And they were promised that economic growth would follow. Investing in rapid industrialisation, they built up considerable debts – even as development aid arrived.

But the promised growth barely materialised. The 1970s and 1980s brought economic recession in the West, rising oil prices and a dramatic fall in commodity prices, affecting key exports from poorer countries.

Corrupt and unaccountable post-colonial leaders lost economic and political credibility with their people. But when they, in turn, were overthrown, their debts were passed on to their successors.