In 1962, René Dumont criticized the fund from an economic point of view: "[W]ithin the framework of FIDES very large sums were granted to French-speaking Africa.
"[4]Historian Paul Nugent states that the more recent historical consensus "is that FIDES amounted to much more than an ideological figleaf.
It did channel substantial resources into the African colonies - initially (as in the British case) into infrastructural development, but later also into industrial enterprises and agricultural projects.
According to historian Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, 64% of the budgets went into infrastructural and industrial development to extract products and transport them to the Métropole, while only 18% was consecrated to "social programs" such as literacy or vaccination campaigns.
[2] The majority of the 599 billion francs that went to the colonies between 1946 and 1956 ended up being funneled back either to French companies or individual settlers and administrators.