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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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Global Prosperity Wonkcast
Posts Tagged: Ben LeoProspects for South Sudan, the World’s Newest Nation: Ben LeoJuly 12, 2011Posted by Lawrence MacDonald in Debt Relief, Fragile States, Global Development Tags: Ben Leo, Debt relief, Fragile States, Oil, Sudan
My guest this week is Ben Leo, a CGD research fellow and expert on the economic issues concerning the new nation of South Sudan and its major challenges going forward. Podcast: Play in new window | Download 1 Comment »Hedging Against Hunger: Connie Veillette & Ben LeoJuly 5, 2011Posted by Lawrence MacDonald in Food and Agriculture, Rethinking US Foreign Assistance Tags: Aid reform, Ben Leo, Connie Veillette, Food aid, WFP
Joining me this week to discuss these developments is Connie Veillette, director of CGD’s Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Program and CGD research fellow Ben Leo. Having closely tracked U.S. and international food aid, both have concluded that reforms in financing, procurement and delivery can help ensure that food aid reaches more people who need it at lower cost. Podcast: Play in new window | Download 2 Comments »Who Gets the Debt If Sudan Splits? Ben LeoDecember 6, 2010Posted by Lawrence MacDonald in Africa, Debt Relief, Fragile States Tags: Ben Leo, Debt relief, Sudan
Podcast: Play in new window | Download 1 Comment »Ben Leo: Who Are The Millennium Development Goal Trailblazers?August 24, 2010Posted by Lawrence MacDonald in Africa, Aid Effectiveness, Global Development, Poverty Tags: Ben Leo, MDGs
As the UN prepares for the MDG Review Summit next month, the conventional wisdom is that the global progress has been adequate—mostly because of China’s huge size and rapid poverty reduction—but that Africa lags sadly behind. Ben says that this view is overly simplistic, if not just plain wrong. Africa accounts for four of the fifteen countries ranked as “trailblazers,” on track to reach at least half of the examined MDG indicators by the 2015 target year (they are: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda). Notwithstanding that the MDGs are wildly over ambitious given historical rates of progress (see here and here), Ben finds that low-income countries have made as much progress as middle-income countries. And some countries that we might expect to see on the trailblazer list, such as Tanzania, have performed poorly. Podcast: Play in new window | Download 4 Comments »Free Money: How to Unlock $7.5 Billion for the World’s Poorest, with Ben LeoJune 8, 2010Posted by Lawrence MacDonald in Global Development, International Financial Institutions, Poverty Tags: Ben Leo, IBRD, IDA, IFIs, World Bank
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On Saturday the world’s newest nation exuberantly celebrated its first independence day. The Republic of South Sudan, an area the size of Texas that is home to eight million people, has finally fulfilled its long-sought goal of freedom and self-determination. Independence however, is just the beginning.
Every year, billions of dollars are spent on food assistance to provide lifesaving sustenance to millions of people. That’s a lot of money, and an important cause, so it was encouraging to learn last week that the United States and the G-20 are starting to seriously scrutinize food aid policy. Recent developments in Washington and Paris show a growing consensus that it’s about time to overhaul outdated approaches to feeding the hungry.
A 2011 referendum in Southern Sudan will determine the sub-nation’s independence – and it’s just one month away. Ahead of the South’s possible secession, Sudanese leaders are scrambling to find solutions to a host of questions, a critical one being: What should be done with Sudan’s crushing $35 billion external debt burden? I’m joined on this Wonkcast by Ben Leo, a research fellow here at the Center for Global Development, who has just published a CGD working paper which outlines potential scenarios for post-referendum debt division between the Khartoum government in the north and an independent Southern Sudan. On the Wonkcast, Ben explains how debt complicates the landscape for splitting Sudan and outlines a range of possible approaches to a viable solution. 
With high deficits across the developed world, aid budgets are tight and likely to remain so. However, a simple change in how the World Bank organizes its lending could free up an extra $7.5 billion for the world’s poorest countries over the next three years. My guest on this Wonkcast is 
