Aid and Resource Mobilisation in Sub-Saharan Africa: the Role of Reverse Flows

This article seeks to ascertain the role of ‘reverse flows’ in explaining the observed limited impact of aid on resource mobilisation in Sub-Saharan Africa. It departs from the previous empirical literature on aid and resource mobilisation by abandoning the pervasive, but untenable, assumption that aid either displaces domestic saving (increases consumption) or increases investment. Some aid is, in fact, used to finance reverse flows (debt servicing, capital flight, and reserve accumulation). The evidence suggests that, for the period covering 1980 to 2006, nearly 50 per cent of aid to Sub-Saharan African countries was used to finance reverse flows.