Reforming the Unreformable - 9780262526876

Corrupt, mismanaged, and seemingly hopeless: that's how the international communityviewed Nigeria in the early 2000s. Then Nigeria implemented a sweeping set of economic and politicalchanges and began to reform the unreformable. This book tells the story of how a dedicated andpolitically committed team of reformers set out to fix a series of broken institutions, and in theprocess repositioned Nigeria's economy in ways that helped create a more diversified springboard forsteadier long-term growth.

The author, Harvard- and MIT-trained economist NgoziOkonjo-Iweala, currently Nigeria's Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance andformerly Managing Director of the World Bank, played a crucial part in her country's economicreforms. In Nigeria's Debt Management Office, and later as Minister of Finance, she spearheadednegotiations with the Paris Club that led to the wiping out of $30 billion of Nigeria's externaldebt, 60 percent of which was outright cancellation. Reforming the Unreformableoffers an insider's view of those debt negotiations; it also details the fight against corruptionand the struggle to implement a series of macroeconomic and structural reforms.

This story of development economics in action, written from the front lines ofeconomic reform in Africa, offers a unique perspective on the complex and uncertain global economicenvironment.