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crony socialism and catapult his country out of poverty with the aid of big business
andhelp fromthe WorldBank, the IMFandagroupofwestern nations led bythe US.
ButhepaidscantheedtotheFrancophoneMalagasypoliticaloldguardandcontrived
to alienate important sections of the army.
His political naivety and a growing public feeling that he was using his position
as president to rapidly expand his own business empire at the expense of others was
brought to a head when he attempted to allow the leasing of a huge tract of Malagasy
land to a South Korean company for agricultural purposes and also ordered a second
jet airliner, believed to be mostly for his personal use.
But protestations by the 35-year-old Rajoelina that he represented a new moral
democratic force were never wholly believed by the public, who noted that over 100
peoplediedinthecoupheinstigated.Forthemostpartonlyverysmallnumbersatten-
dedhisdemonstrations.NorweremostMalagasysurprisedwhenRajoelinarefusedto
hold early elections and in June 2009, three months after he seized power, the consti-
tution was changed to allow candidates aged 30 and over to stand for president. The
previous constitution had stipulated a lower age limit of 40 for the position.
EconomistandforeignpolicyexpertRichardCowperwaslivinginMadagascaratthe
time of the coup
.
ECONOMY
Over the past 40 years Madagascar has declined from being modestly prosperous to be-
coming one of the poorest countries in the world. Around 90% of the population lives on
less than US$2 a day. Under Tsiranana's post-independence government, a combination of
careful management and political stability produced a steady growth in GNP and an im-
provement in living standards. However, from the late '70s Ratsiraka's unwise policies of
nationalisationandcentralisation,coupledwithaworseningofthetermsoftradefollowing
successive oil-price shocks, led to the collapse of the economy. For 25 years the average
GNP growth was zero so that, with the population doubling, living standards were halved.
Reluctant recourse to the IMF and its policies of austerity and liberalisation led to some
improvement in the late '80s but the disruptions of successive political crises checked and
sometimes reversed this recovery.
Madagascar has always had an adverse balance of trade, but in the post-independence
days the deficit was modest and covered by various payments from France. The economic
collapse under the Second Republic greatly increased the deficit, and the country has since
