THE first Nias Public Expenditure Analysis released by the World Bank and the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation & Reconstruction Agency (BRR) last week highlights both the poverty in the tsunami- and earthquake-ravaged island, as well as the hope that the fourfold increase in district revenues and reconstruction financing—together providing Rp1.7 trillion in 2006 for rebuilding the shattered island—presents a real opportunity for growth.

Nias was amo