Ashraf Ghani was Afghanistan’s finance minister between July 2002 and December 2004. He has some interesting views on capitalism and foreign aid, which were expressed at the TED conference in July 2005. He says that most of the world does not benefit from capitalism, because developing countries tend to experience capitalism only in the forms of extractive industries (blood diamonds, smuggled emeralds, timber), and technical assistance, which is the ugliest face of the developed world to the developing world.
According to Ghani, the ordinary Afghan is sick and tired of hearing about microcredit. What the ordinary woman and man engaged in microproduction want is global access. They don’t want to sell to the charity bazaars that are only for foreigners, producing the same embroidered shirt again and again. What they want are partnerships with the Italian design firms.
As for foreign aid, Ghani says that one dollar in private investment is equal to 20 dollars of aid, in terms of the dynamic that it generates. Also, the value of a dollar of aid depends on what form it comes in, and what conditions are attached to it. If the goal is to build states that can credibly take care of themselves, aid must end in each country on a definable date. Every year there must be progress on mobilisation of domestic revenue and generation of the economy. Unless that kind of a compact is entered into, you will not be able to sustain growth.