The slowdown in the major developed economies, transmitted to the African economies mainly through trade linkages, is likely to dampen growth prospects across the continent. African economies are facing a sustained period of weak foreign demand, as illustrated by the sharp deceleration in the...

As the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP17) ends and 2011 draws to a close, we reflect upon the African Development Bank’s push to bring more and better climate financing to Africa. Read highlights from COP17, as well as major headlines from 2011. The new year holds much promise—see our outlook...

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...

Over the last one year, a series of events – ranging from the Arab Spring to the European debt crisis and growing food insecurity, particularly in the Horn of Africa – have focused attention on the fragility of the global economic system. An awareness of risk, and risk management, is increasingly...

It is estimated that Africa loses in excess of 70,000 skilled professionals annually to emigration, resulting in a huge human capacity deficit in the Continent.1 At the same time, the remittance inflows from Africa’s Diaspora have increased by 260 per cent in the last decade from US$11.2 billion in...

The majority of unemployed people in Africa are aged 15-24. Despite an impressive annual growth rate of more than 5 percent in recent years and commendable progress achieved in the area of education, Africa has been unable to significantly expand employment opportunities for young people. While...

While The world economic crisis brought a period of relatively high economic growth in Africa to an abrupt end. Average economic growth plummeted from an average of 6 per cent between 2006 and 2008 to 2.5 per cent in 2009 with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth coming to a near standstill (OECD,...

There is considerable interest in the association between the institutional setting for the protection of creditor rights and the development of the credit market. Recent research offers macro-level evidence that the quality of legal protection, enforceability of legal creditor rights and...

W hile the recent financial crisis has severely affected banks all over the world, Africa is one of the world’s regions that have suffered the least. This can be explained by the poor integration of the continent’s banks with the global financial system. Indeed, African economies have long been—and...