Chapter 906 East African Economic Planning Commission
“In order to meet the needs of East African economic development, the East African Planning and Economic Commission was established to coordinate the construction of industry, agriculture, energy, technology, engineering, etc. across the country.”
"The main reason for establishing this agency is to formulate the country's medium- and long-term development plans, maintain the stability of development policies, and more scientifically design the path of East Africa's independent economic development, coordinate the work of state-owned enterprises and various institutions, and government departments at all levels, formulate production plans, and improve industrial and agricultural production capacity."
In a country like East Africa, which is dominated by state-owned economy and collective economy (mainly agriculture), relying on Western traditional or capitalist economic development models is obviously not feasible.
So in October 1895, Ernst formally promoted the establishment of the East African National Economic Planning Committee, drawing elite personnel from various government agencies in East Africa to form this economic policy agency that was very different from the Western world.
The establishment of the East African National Economic Planning Committee does not mean that East Africa denies the market economy, but is intended to provide more scientific guidance for the development of East Africa's state-owned economy and collective economy.
Of course, the main private economy in East Africa is royal enterprises, so they will actually comply with government requirements and formulate development strategies for enterprises in East Africa.
However, the nickname of this institution in the East African internal government is the "Economic Cabinet". After all, it is nothing like the Ministry of Finance, where most of the work is done within the department. Instead, it can directly intervene in the work of all departments related to the national economy. Naturally, Ernst serves as the top leader.
"In the composition of our country's economy, state-owned economy and collective economy occupy a dominant position, so in order to facilitate the management of state-owned enterprises and collective economy, the Planning Commission is a necessary institution. In the past, our country's economy has been in a state of barbaric development for a long time, and there is a lack of connectivity between various departments and enterprises, which is not conducive to the formulation of national economic policies. Therefore, the task of the East African Planning Commission is to implement the principle of 'one national economy, one chessboard', formulate the development direction of the government's economic work tasks, and provide guidance for the development of enterprises and economic groups."
Many officials in East Africa were confused and shocked by what Ernst said, after all, there was no precedent in the world.
However, it did not cause much waves. After all, East Africa used to have a "planned" economy, and the major national development policies were entirely decided by Ernst alone.
Of course, Ernst alone does not have this ability. He mainly relies on the think tank team to complete the specific work, and finally Ernst signs and agrees.
So now the East African Planning Commission is actually equivalent to Ernst upgrading the think tank team into a formal government agency. Since it is just a change of name but not substance, people naturally don’t care.
After the establishment of the East African Planning Commission, the power of the Ministry of Finance was greatly reduced, but it is still an important economic department of the government. After all, in theory the Planning Commission has no real power, and it costs money to get things done, which ultimately needs to be reviewed and signed for confirmation by the Ministry of Finance.
After the establishment of the department, Ernst said: "It will be the turn of the century in a blink of an eye. In four years, it will be the 20th century, which also means the advent of a new era. Therefore, during these four years, the Planning and Economic Commission will take over the formulation of the national economic development strategy, familiarize itself with related work, and formulate the overall goal of my country's economic development before 1900. There is no need to set the tone too high, but to work pragmatically and improve the current national economic system."
After all, the Planning Economic Committee had just been established, so whether it could meet Ernst's requirements remained to be seen. Therefore, the four years from 1895 to 1900 were its running-in period.
It was impossible to ask them to make a detailed plan. They should first formulate a rough development plan, observe the results by 1900, and then make major adjustments and changes.
In Ernst's view, East Africa's planned economy, in particular, should not be implemented hastily. Although it is easy to achieve results, it is also easy to ignore potential drawbacks.
The people under you must first be familiar with all matters, understand the national conditions of the country's economic development, and the development trends of the world economy, and then you can formulate relatively scientific development plans based on the specific conditions of East African countries.
This resulted in the East African Economic and Planning Commission's first national development plan being rather conservative:
At least 50 new state-owned enterprises of various types were established, steel production exceeded 3 million tons (of course, East Africa exceeded 2 million tons), cultivated land area exceeded 1.5 billion mu, grain production exceeded 200 billion (currently more than 117 billion catties), and railways exceeded 70,000 kilometers (30,000 kilometers less than the original plan of the Ministry of Railways)...
Moreover, in some economic areas, target setting was rather implicit. After all, in a short period of time, the Planning and Economic Commission did not have a thorough understanding of East Africa’s national conditions and could not obtain detailed data.
Therefore, we can only talk about encouraging the development of various industries, promoting industrial upgrading and transformation, vigorously developing the national defense and military industries... and other uncertain topics.
Ernst could understand this. After all, they had no experience, so his requirements were not high. He estimated that it would take four years for the Planning and Economic Commission to become familiar with the relevant work, and by then they would not be as "at a loss" as they are now.
This also made other government departments in East Africa look like a joke. After all, their lack of proficiency in their work made the East African Economic Planning Commission look out of place, and the economic development goals it set were even lower than the plans set by the original government departments at all levels.
This includes the Ministry of Railways. The original plan designed by the Ministry of Railways was that before 1900, the total mileage of East African railways would exceed 100,000 kilometers. However, it was cut by the Planning and Economic Committee, and the mileage of the French national railway was directly lost.
Of course, the initial task of the Planning and Economic Committee was mainly to adjust and learn, and its economic policy-making was only of guiding significance. It would be great if the Ministry of Railways could exceed its tasks.
However, the 70,000-kilometer figure given by the Planning and Economic Commission is not completely unreasonable. The figure is based on the East African railway construction data of previous years. After all, East African railway construction has its peaks and lows. According to their estimates, in the next four years, East African railway construction will hardly reach the scale of the 1970s and 1980s. After all, the railway construction in the 1970s and 1980s was caused by the economic crisis.
Only time can tell about the dispute between the two. Before that, the Ministry of Railways will naturally continue to plan the national railway construction program according to the original plan.
Therefore, after the establishment of the East African Economic Planning Commission, between 1895 and 1900, it had little impact on the economic development of East African countries.
In fact, even without this sector, the current East African economy cannot develop too slowly in this cycle of global economic recovery.
At the end of the 19th century, the Second Industrial Revolution was breaking out. As long as the overall stability of the country could be maintained, even the current government of the Far Eastern Empire could achieve good political results.
In fact, the economies of the Far Eastern countries have great similarities with those of East Africa. That is, a large number of enterprises established by the government during the Westernization Movement were actually state-owned enterprises, and this period was the stage of rapid development of the Far Eastern Empire's military industry and other fields.
Of course, the Far Eastern Empire government is obviously still somewhat hesitant in its industrial investment, unlike East Africa where all the investments are big, which is also closely related to the national conditions of the two countries.
Especially after the Far Eastern War, this can be seen as a turning point in the destiny of the Far Eastern Empire. After more than ten years of peaceful development, the Far Eastern War also meant the resumption of regional turmoil.
Because of the South African War, East Africa will be in a peaceful and stable state in the next ten years. Under this circumstance, East Africa is likely to rapidly narrow the gap in economic size with the Far East Empire.
(End of this chapter)
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