Windfalls that fuelled spending sprees and scandals
It's an all too common predicament – a government discovers massive reserves of oil or another natural resource, and proceeds to fritter away the money. Whether that’s through corruption or ill-judged government schemes, poor spending choices seem to go hand in hand with massive windfalls. Here are the cautionary tales of nations that wasted huge payouts from natural resources. All dollar values in US dollars unless otherwise stated.