Finance & economics | Commonwealth Development Corporation

Two fingers to the poor

Privatising Britain’s development arm may not help those who need it

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WHEN the British government set up the Colonial Development Corporation in 1948, the aim was to develop self-sustaining agriculture, industry and trade in the British empire. Renamed the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) in the mid-1960s, its area of operation widened to the third world in general. Still, it kept its development mandate, especially for poor rural areas.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Two fingers to the poor”

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