'Escaping the Resource Curse' launched

A book that provides guidelines on how resource-rich countries could judiciously use revenue accruing from the operations in extractive industries was on Tuesday launched in Accra.

The book entitled: “Escaping the Resource Curse,” offers opportunity to tap the experience of other countries' mistakes in the use of the resources to the benefit of society.

It was jointly edited by Macartan Humphreys, Jeffrey Sachs and Joseph Stiglitt and published by the New York-based Columbia University Press in the United States.

It examines government dealing with oil companies, as well as the management of oil wealth and transparency.

Reverend Father Patrick Amos, Director, Dialogue for Good Governance of the Catholic Bishop Conference, who launched the book, said the timing was good in view of the recent discoveries of oil in Ghana.

He said it was important that Ghanaians learn from the failures of other oil-rich countries to manage and use the resource to the advantage of the citizenry.

Mr Emmanuel Kuyole, Regional Representative of the Revenue Watch Institute, a non-profit organization, said revenue for the extractive sector must be managed carefully so it could be a blessing to all.

He said the book would contribute to ongoing debate about the effective management of resources.

Dr Thomas Akabzaa, Senior Lecturer, Department of Geology, University of Ghana, in a review said the book was a good gift to Ghanaians and urged policy makers to take useful lessons from it to reverse the resource curse that had plagued most countries.

Source: GNA