In the last 15 years international aid donors to Africa have shifted their focus dramatically toward health and education; the share of social sector support in total aid rose from 33% to 60% from 1990-94 to 2000-04 alone. If this aid has been effective, it is unlikely to be captured in GDP or...

This article contributes to the debate on aid volatility and argues that official assistance copes with exogenous output shocks in recipient countries and stabilizes resources available for the financing of consumption, investment and net trade. Stabilizing aid is effective in aiddependent and...

La crise financière internationale en 2008 a montré une fois de plus l’importance de la notion de compétitivité des services financiers et bancaires nationaux comme garant de la mobilisation des ressources nécessaires au profit du tissu productif, et in fine le financement de la croissance...

This paper invokes a flow-of-funds framework to scope the challenges, opportunities and policy responses regarding capital flows and capital account liberalisation as Africa emerges from the global financial crisis. The framework is used to highlight the transmission of the financial crisis from...

As the global financial crisis started unraveling, with many economies melting down and financial institutions running out of cash, Africa’s economy appeared to be safe given that it had not been fully integrated into the global economy. The continent’s economy had not been driven by the real...

Africa’s social and economic gains of the last decade are seriously threatened due to the global financial and economic crisis. The projected economic growth of less than 2 percent in 2009 (October updates) implies declining per capita incomes, with millions of Africans falling back into extreme...

The global economic crisis has definitely caused a growth crisis in African economies. Growth rates have plummeted, with some countries even experiencing contraction. The crisis is hitting the key drivers of growth, especially trade flows, capital inflows, natural resource sectors (oil and minerals...

The recent episode of high food prices was more severe than previous ones and its impact is expected to persist over the short-to-medium term. The sharp increases in food prices from the last quarter of 2007 to early 2008 triggered various reactions around the world, including Africa, and raised...

Last year at this time, Africa was looking at a bright growth outlook, with many arguing that the continent had turned the corner from decades of economic stagnation and structural macroeconomic imbalances. Indeed in 2007, the continent recorded a growth rate of over 5 percent for the sixth...