New PM vows to make Madagascar an emerging market

Antananarivo (AFP) - Madagascar's new Prime Minister Roger Kolo took office on Wednesday, vowing to turn the country from down-at-heel international outcast to true emerging market.

"We will cease to be a trading post and become an emerging market," he said at the handover of power from his predecessor.

"Madagascar should move from being an exporter of raw materials to an exporter of finished products with high value added."

Kolo was appointed by President Hery Rajaonarimampianina, who was elected in December in a vote designed to bring the country out of five years of political crisis sparked by a coup.

Kolo, a relatively unknown doctor, was named prime minister last week amid rumours strongman Andry Rajoelina -- the coup leader who had ruled the country since 2009 -- may have sought the post.

Rajoelina gave in to international demands not to run for president, but some feared he would try to wield power from the prime minister's office.

Kolo's appointment will raise hopes that the new government can continue to repair relations with the international community.

Major donors like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United States and the European Union cut off the flow of aid to the Indian Ocean island after the coup.

That in turn spurred private investors to pull out, aggravating the economic woes of one of the world's poorest countries.

According to the World Bank, around 30,000 jobs were directly lost after the 2009 coup.

Today more than 90 percent of the population survives on less than two dollars a day, a level almost unparallelled across the globe.

Since taking office Rajaonarimampianina has visited Europe and North America on a charm offensive, which appears to be paying off.

The International Monetary Fund has already lifted one barrier, officially recognising the new government.

"Madagascar has turned a page through these elections," Rajaonarimampianina told AFP recently. "I don't need to convince the international community, they're already convinced."