The Southern African region, in general, continues to recover from the impact of the global financial crisis, with most of the countries expected to record near pre-crisis growth rates in 2011. Countercyclical fiscal and monetary measures adopted in response to the global financial crisis and the...

Substantial slowdown in the progress towards reducing income inequality in Africa is expected as a consequence of the global economic crisis. Indeed, the multiple crises of high food and energy prices first, and the most recent global economic crisis subsequently, have created significant setbacks...

South African monetary policy authorities have in several occasions managed to bring the inflation rate within the target band of 3-6% after adopting inflation targeting framework in February 2000. Economic growth in these periods was not significant enough to reduce unemployment rate. In February...

The second bulletin presents progress made in the execution of the “Action Plan to Improve Statistics for Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture, and Rural Development in Africa” over the period January to May 2011. It discusses ongoing activities and includes next steps for the implementation of...

The drastic surge and volatility in international food prices in recent months have stoked fears of a replay of the 2007/08 global food price crisis, which sparked riots and associated political uncertainty across countries in the developing as well as the developed world.

The recent years have witnessed an increasingly strong interest in the impact of economic growth on poverty. An important reason for this has been the establishment of the Millennium Development Goals, which have set poverty reduction as a fundamental objective of development. Using two household...

In the years before the global financial crisis (GFC), several African countries staged notable turnarounds in their economic performance. They exhibited developments similar to those experienced by the earlier emerging markets in other regions in the 1980s or more recently by some African emerging...

Africa’s economic relationships with Korea are increasing rapidly and they are drawing the attention of Korean policymakers and business houses. These relations extend beyond trade and investment and involve also knowledge sharing and policy dialogue. In this context, the Korean Government, who...

Regional integration in Africa is important in a globalized world for African countries to reap benefits from economies of scale and to strengthen their position in international negotiations. Yet, this process has been hampered by overlapping mandates and memberships from various regional...