Commentary

THERE is a picture of a minister that has gone viral on the internet. Clad in checkered jacket, Dr Mathias Harebamungu, the hard-talking, bespectacled State Minister in-charge of Primary and Secondary Education, is seen with a hoe destroying over 20 mobile phones as some visibly astonished students and staff members look on. The phones had ostensibly been confiscated from students.

LONDON – At first, it seems difficult to grasp: global capital is flowing from poor to rich countries. Emerging-market countries run current-account surpluses, while advanced economies have deficits. One would expect fast-growing, capital-scarce (and young) developing countries to be importing capital from the rest of world to finance consumption and investment. So, why are they sending capital to richer countries, instead?