Knowledge generation and capacity building are core mandates of the African Development Bank and also pillars of our Climate Change Action Plan 2011-2015. In supporting climate change initiatives across the continent, we are learning what works (and what doesn’t), and we are sharing these practical...

Many African countries are deregulating their energy sector and this often leads to increases in retail fuel prices. Following this trend, in January 2012 Nigeria abruptly eliminated fuel subsidies and this caused a spike in fuel prices from N65 (US$ 0.42) to N138 (US$ 0.89) per liter, the highest...

Progress towards target 7C of the Millennium Development Goals of halving by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation facilities remains slow. The rate of access to improved water sources increased from 49% in 1990 to 60% in 2008, a...

This brief reviews the current and prospective balance sheet vulnerabilities of the Tunisian banking system and, based on historical experience in dealing with bank restructuring, derives some policy recommendations on a nonperforming loan (NPL) resolution strategy for the country. In particular,...

The purpose of this study is to provide an empirical analysis of some of the impacts of international financial integration on economic activity and macro-economic volatility in African countries. While dominant economic theory suggests that capital account liberalization has a more or less...

The importance of education in development is a perennial topic in economics especially in the context of sub-Saharan Africa’s development experience. The connection is not surprising since the region stands out both in its low level of schooling and its low historic average rate of economic growth...

In spite of good macro performance over the past decade (see Table A.1 in the appendix), inflation in four leading East African economies – Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda – has spiraled out of control recently (Box 1 and Figure 1). Sharp increases in inflation could reduce economic growth and...

This report, an update of a previous report by the Bank on Egypt’s competitiveness (AfDB (2009), written in November 2010, assesses Egypt’s reform process, how it has translated into performance outcomes along several dimensions putting particular emphasis on how Egypt has fared relative to the...

This Bulletin presents progress made in the execution of the “Action Plan to Improve Statistics for Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture, and Rural Development in Africa” since the second issue was published in May 2011. It reports on the various activities undertaken since that time and presents...