This paper examines ways of strengthening the linkages between budget support and economic reforms in recipient developing countries. After over two decades of the intensive use of budget support as a means of providing aid, the issue of its capacity to foster economic reforms and, hence, promote...

Competition in the banking industy has been a subject of great scholarly inquiry and continues to occupy a large body of empirical research. From public policy perspective, competitiveness of the banking sector represents a socially optimal target, since it reduces the cost of financial...

Africa is transforming, but economic transformation can be accelerated The continent offers opportunity for both African and international investors: “Emerging Africa” Africa is striving for strong, sustained and inclusive growth through structural  transformation Structural...

While negotiators in Doha went some way toward recognizing countries' differentiated needs in Africa and elsewhere who face tremendous obstacles to climate-smart development, it remains up to us to stay vigilant to ensure they receive the funding, knowledge and capacity they need to move along the...

Africa has experienced many severe food crises that caused death and displacement of millions of Africans, including as recently as the last ten years1 . Recent humanitarian disasters in the Horn of Africa in 2011 and in the Sahel region in 2012 highlighted the vulnerability of African populations...

This economic brief draws out lessons from the most publicized Diaspora bond issuances globally – that of Israel, India and Ethiopia with the aim of exploring their applicability to the African context. It intends to provide insight to potential African issuers on what aspects to ponder prior to...

This study was prepared by a team of the AfDB staff, and external consultants under the overall management of Jian Zhang, Principal Macroeconomist, AfDB and Task Manager, and Ibrahim Abdullahi Zeidy, Senior Financial Economist, COMESA Secretariat and Co-Task Manager. Moono Mupotola, ONRI2 Division...

Africa, a continent known for its abundant natural resources, also has important human resources. Unfortunately, Africa is not fully leveraging this huge potential of skilled people due essentially to the brain drain. Despite the lack of consistent data on African human capital flight, there is an...

The informal sector is a significant part of African economies. While the share of the informal economy has been going down, it remains relatively high with an average of approximately 40% across the continent (Schneider et al. 2010). There are several factors that account for the presence of such...