Madagascar Crisis Sparks Worry, Hope Among Businessmen

February 18, 2011

Employees work on a Faoka model of a Karenjy vehicle in an auto plant in Fianarantsoa, Madagascar (file photo - August 24, 2010)

The President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Madagascar, Robert Strauss, said that although many companies left the country when the crisis erupted, those focused on long-term investment in the country have started to look for new ways to operate in such a difficult environment.

"At the American Chambers of Commerce in Madagascar, we’ve just started a conversation about what the private sector can do in a situation such as this where the political horizon is not clear, so that we can be more responsible for our own future,” Strauss said. “We’re looking to Ivory Coast as an example we want to avoid, where people spend 10 years trying to come up with a solution. That is a decade of opportunity lost."

Investment suspended

Much foreign investment, which once accounted for two thirds of the government’s spending budget, as well as lucrative trade and aid benefits from western governments were suspended after the former mayor of Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, seized power with some military backing in March 2009.

The African Union and Southern African Development Community refused to recognize the coup and suspended Madagascar’s membership.