Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world, with its poverty increasing daily. It also has enormous problems with HIV/AIDS, malaria, malnutrition, as well as severe shortages of water, medication, health care, and housing. The life expectancy for the average Sierra Leonean is one of the lowest in the world. Unfortunately, the international has been reluctant to provide aid, believing that Sierra Leone’s problems can be traced only to internal problems such as civil war, bad governance, and endemic corruption. It has been proposed that Sierra Leone’s problems are more complicated than that, and are tied to its complicated land laws and trade policies, many of which have been directly exploited through globalization.

In 1961, when Sierra Leone won its independence from Great Britain, it was in a strong economic position, owing to its healthy central government and strong economic management. Its government enforced strong import substitution laws and protections for infant industries. For a time, Sierra Leone had better economic growth numbers than Japan. Three factors are important to consider when charting Sierra Leone’s path to poverty: (1) Reliance on commodity exports for trade, which suffered in the 1970s and 1980s; (2) penalties suffered under trade losses forced much borrowing from outside organizations; and (3) its debt.
Debt may be the most serious issue. The nation was already on that path when it hosted the Organization of African Unity, a predecessor organization to the modern African Union. Following this period, the nation fell ever deeper into debt and social services, such as electricity. To the present day, this nation’s policies have been guided largely by donor and creditor organizations, which have mandated trade liberalization, privatization of state-owned industries and services, and general deregulation of industry.  The effect of economic liberalization on Sierra Leone’s economy has been disastrous, as it had no time to build a strong entrepreneurial class and was subsequently exploited harshly in the world market.
To break the cycle of poverty and underdevelopment, Sierra Leone must achieve an annual growth rate of at least 8 percent. This will be achieved only through investments in human and physical infrastructure as well as an increase in literacy and skill levels, and the abolition of archaic land laws such as the Land Tenure Act.