Global finance is failing Africa. Time for a progressive carbon tax to fund the Green Transition

Something is rotten in the state of finance. It is failing badly in these frenetic times of climate crisis, pandemics and galloping authoritarianism. And the fallout is producing some unlikely revolutionaries. Take Zambia, where a chartered accountant won an election by standing up for human rights and freedom of the press, and promising to rescue the economy from a corrupt cabal.

Election victor Hakainde Hichilema is too diplomatic to call out the banks that collaborated with venal politicians. But the story has a similar pattern to the hidden loans scandal playing out in Mozambique. Corrupt political and financial elites colluded to steal public funds, leaving the povo with the bill. Enter the IMF and the debt restructurers, while a generation’s aspirations are put on hold.

Pull back the focus for a global view of financial dysfunction – from none other than David Malpass, president of the World Bank and partisan for deregulation and low-tax economies. Under Malpass, the bank has lagged behind the IMF on pushing for debt relief and financing the transition to renewable energy.