Achieving Financial Stability and Growth in Africa

This book explores how the financial system should be regulated and structured to achieve the twin goals of inclusive growth and financial stability, with a focus on African low-income countries (LICs). The subject and content of this book is original in that it attempts to draw on the lessons and radical rethinking on the financial sector in developed and middle income countries, arising in the wake of the international financial crisis. It includes four in- depth country case studies, of Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Ethiopia, but also analyses the empirical evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, evaluating the relevance (or not) of such major changes for the very different financial sectors and economies in low income countries.

Achieving Financial Stability and Growth in Africa has major academic and policy implications, especially for low income countries, but also more generally, on broader issues. These include the desirable size of the financial sector, as well as more specific issues, such as the high cost of borrowing of small and medium enterprises in LICs, and possible measures to reduce it. Highly topical subjects like the appropriate regulation of the financial sector and management of capital flows are discussed in depth. Though drawing on comprehensive reviews of the literature, this volume has the virtue of the large comparative academic and policy experience of researchers, as well as in-depth case studies, that take account of institutional and economic features of low- income countries.

Written by senior academics and policy-makers, this book is a must read for those researching or participating in the financial sectors of low-income countries, as well as in developed economies. It is also suitable for those who study political economy and public finance.

About the Authors

Stephany Griffith-Jones
Financial Markets Program Director
Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD)

Stephany Griffith-Jones is an economist specialising in international finance and development, with emphasis on reform of the international and national financial system, especially in relation to financial regulation and global governance. She is Financial Markets Director at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University. Previously she was Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University. She was Director of International Finance at the Commonwealth Secretariat and worked at UN DESA and ECLAC. She was senior consultant to governments in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa and many international agencies, including the World Bank, the IADB, the European Commission, UNDP and UNCTAD. She was a member of the Warwick Commission on financial regulation. She currently is theme leader on finance in the ESRC /DFID growth programme for LICs, especially African ones. She has published over 20 books and many scholarly and journalistic articles. Her books include Time for the Visible Hand, Lessons from the 2008 crisis, edited jointly with José Antonio Ocampo and Joseph Stiglitz.

Ricardo Gottschalk
Fellow, Institute for Development Studies
University of Sussex