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Down the mine, down the drain

Political troubles were overshadowed on 25 January, when Anglo American announced that it was pulling out of the Copperbelt less than two years after reinvesting there. Copper had been Zambia's main economic hope; the metal accounts for more than 60 per cent of exports and a quarter of gross domestic product. This may rank as privatisation's biggest African failure. It will also hit the credibility of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other Western agencies pressing governments to sell off state assets....

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Down the mine, down the drain

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