Banking in Sub-Saharan Africa : The Macroeconomic Context

September 26, 2013

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Montfort Mlachila, and Masafumi Yabara. Banking in Sub-Saharan Africa : The Macroeconomic Context, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2013) accessed November 8, 2024

Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have seen accelerated growth for an extended period of time since the mid-1990s, making a clear break with their long stagnant growth during the previous two decades. That said, the region faces significant challenges over the medium to long term, including reducing poverty, overcoming infrastructure bottlenecks, enhancing productivity and skill levels, and improving the business climate, among others. The banking sector remains underdeveloped in SSA, thus reducing its contribution to growth, although its limited integration with global financial markets helped countries weather adverse effects of the global financial crisis. It is imperative that the banking sector plays a more active role in SSA, in order to achieve sustainable growth led by the private sector. This paper, building on the recent literature on SSA, discusses the main features of the region’s growth and macroeconomic performance in recent years and the outlook for the coming years; it then reviews the main features of SSA banking systems and how they were affected by the global economic crisis, while flagging some factors that could influence financial sector developments in SSA in the period ahead.

Subject: Bank supervision, Banking systems, Economic growth, Sub-Saharan Africa

Keywords: Banking, Banking system, Financial sector, Financial systems

Publication Details

Pages:

32
Volume:

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DOI:

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Series:

Departmental Paper No. 13/03
Stock No:

BISSAEA
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