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Article: Ghana Finds Politics at Odds With Economics; Rawlings Focuses on Reelection As Once-Model Economy Struggles
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- April 16, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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After rebuilding a decimated economy and becoming an international
donors' role model for struggling African countries, Ghana finds its
comeback endangered by an unlikely new foe: democracy.
Two years after a young flight lieutenant named Jerry Rawlings
grabbed power in a 1981 coup d'etat, Ghana launched wholesale
economic reforms, funded by hundreds of millions of dollars from the
International Monetary Fund and enforced by Rawlings's authoritarian
military regime.
Unencumbered by political niceties and following foreign aid
donors' prescriptions for painful readjustment, Rawlings presided
over 5 percent annual growth in the late 1980s, an exceptional
performance in Africa. Exports reached ...