The recent debate about aid, sparked by Dambisa Moyo’s book Dead Aid, has polarised the development community. I have long argued that it is investment and good governance, not aid, which will solve Africa’s problems. However, effective aid has an important role to play in the quest for sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction.

In her book, Ms Moyo suggests that government bonds can take the place of development assistance. This is unrealistic. First, debt markets are not open to the African countries that most need capital. Second, the cost of government bonds is materially higher than that of World Bank or other institutional aid. Why should African governments pursue a detrimental line of financing to satisfy an ideologically-led approach to development?