Curated Reports

The Financial Development Report 2011

Source: World Economic Forum     Report Date: December 2011

The Financial Development Report 2011 and the Financial Development Index (“the Index”) on which it is based provide a score and rank for 60 of the world’s leading financial systems and capital markets. The Index analyzes drivers of financial system development that support economic growth. Ultimately, it aims to serve as a tool for both advanced and emerging economies to benchmark themselves and thereby to identify and prioritize areas for reform. Read Full Report
The Design of Fiscal Adjustment Strategies in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland

Source: International Monetary Fund     Report Date: November 2011

Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland (BLNS) face significant risks of a permanent loss of revenue from the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU). They already experience a sharp loss in 2010/11–11/12, in the context of the global crisis. However BLNS could also face a further decline over the medium term, related to at least three structural factors: (i) a change in the SACU revenue-sharing formula currently under discussion (Box 1) (ii) a reduction in the common external tariff rates as a result of trade liberalization, and (iii) the creation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) customs union. Quantifying with precision these risks is a daunting task, but under the preliminary parameters under discussion on the revenue sharing formula, and the impact on trade liberalization, the baseline estimate of the fall in SACU transfers ranges, for BLNS, from 5 percent of GDP to 15 percent (Table 1). From these parameters it is possible to define options for a fiscal adjustment, which is the purpose of this paper. Although the specific magnitude of each shock is yet unknown, the results are nevertheless qualitatively robust to this magnitude. Thus, the policy recommendations would remain broadly the same, even if the size of the needed fiscal adjustment were to be smaller. Read Full Report
The African Union’s Conflict Management Capabilities

Source: Council on Foreign Relations     Report Date: October 2011

Africa’s strategic importance to the United States increased substantially over the past decade. The continent is a growing source of U.S. energy imports; it houses suspected terrorists; and it offers profitable business opportunities, especially in the energy, telecommunication, and minerals sectors. As Chinese and Indian influence spreads and explicitly challenges the U.S. development model, Africa is an arena of intensifying great power rivalry. And, critically, Africa remains the major epicenter for mass atrocities as well as a potential source of transcontinental health pandemics. Consequently, stabilizing the continent should be a core U.S. policy goal. Read Full Report
Regional Economic Outlook Sub Saharan Africa

Source: Regional Economic Outlook Sub Saharan Africa     Report Date: October 2011

This year looks set to be another encouraging one for most sub Saharan African economies. Reflecting mainly strong domestic demand but also elevated commodity prices, the region’s economy is set to expand by 5¼ percent in 2011. For 2012, our baseline projection is for growth to be higher at 5¾ percent, owing to one off boosts to production in a number of countries. Read Full Report
Inflation Targeting and Monetary Policy Transmission Mechanisms in Emerging Market Economies

Source: International Monetary Fund     Report Date: October 2011

In this paper we empirically examine the operation of the traditional Keynesian interest rate channel of the monetary policy transmission mechanism in five potential inflation targeting economies in the MENA region and compare it with fourteen inflation targeting (IT) emerging market economies (EMEs) using panel data analysis. Contrary to some existing studies, our empirical results suggest that private consumption and investment in both groups of countries are sensitive to movements in real interest rates. Moreover, we find that the adoption of IT did not significantly alter the operation of the interest rate channel in IT EMEs. Also, the interest rate elasticities of private consumption and private investment vary with the level of development of the domestic financial market. Finally, capital account liberalization have opposite effects on private consumption and private investment in the two groups of countries. Read Full Report
Africa Regional Report

Source: Partnerships for Transparency Fund (PTF)     Report Date: October 2011

During the reporting period a formal PTF Regional Strategy for Africa was adopted by the group of PTF Advisers active in the Africa Region. The Regional Strategy (included as Annex 2) is based on nine principles, inspired by the main elements of the overall PTF Strategic Plan adopted in October 2010. The strategy calls for focusing on a small number of target countries, exchanging experiences and learning from each other across projects and countries within the Africa Region and beyond, and packaging and disseminating project results widely. Four countries have been designated as target countries and a PTF Country Coordinator has been appointed for each country. During the past two years, PTF had been active in three of those: Cameroon, Ghana and Uganda. In the fourth country, Kenya, an exciting new pilot program was launched, in which PTF is working with a national partner, PACT, as an intermediary. During the reporting period five new projects have been developed under this partnership. Read Full Report
External Sustainability of Oil-Producing Sub-Saharan African Countries

Source: International Monetary Fund     Report Date: August 2011

In the extensive empirical work carried out across the IMF on oil-producing sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, the notion of “sustainability” is often directed toward fiscal policies, and, in particular, views on the “optimal” non-oil primary fiscal deficit. The bulk of this work does not, however, address external sustainability, which is a concern especially for those SSA oil producers operating under a fixed exchange rate regime. A couple of recent papers have extended the existing methodologies to assess external sustainability for some oil-producing countries but they do not focus on those in sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, we bolster this empirical work by providing a range of estimates for the long-run external current external account balance for each of the SSA oil-producing countries, based on three widely used methodologies in the IMF. Our research strategy is to apply these models to the eight countries in the subregion—Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, and the Republic of Congo—using similar simplifying assumptions so that we are using the same lens to view how they do and do not differ. Read Full Report
Driving Economic and Social Development through Mobile Services

Source: Africa Mobile Observatory     Report Date: June 2011

This is the first African edition in the GSMA Mobile Observatory series. This Observatory provides a comprehensive review of the African mobile communications industry. Included are the latest statistics and market developments, as a reference point for mobile industry participants, policy makers and other interested stakeholders. It covers the state of the industry, including the evolution of competition, innovation in new products, services and technologies and the industry’s contribution to social and economic development in Africa. Read Full Report
Mobile Africa Report 2011 – Regional Hubs of Excellence and Innovation

Source: Mobile Monday     Report Date: March 2011

This report draws on primary research (including questionnaires sent to key mobile stakeholders in Africa) as well as secondary research (reports and articles from AfricaNext, BizCommunity, Dataxis Intelligence, International Telecommunications Union, Africa Analysis, Voice of America, TMCNet, BizCommunity, Computerworld Zambia – see full list at end of report). Read Full Report
mHealth: A new vision for healthcare

Source: McKinsey & Company     Report Date: December 2010

Most countries aspire to deliver effective, safe, and affordable healthcare to their citizens. Healthcare systems – defined as providers, payors, and input suppliers (pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and personnel) overseen by a national or regional authority – exist to realize this aspiration and command large and growing budgets. By 2011, it is expected that global annual spend on healthcare will reach about USD 6 trillion.1 Over the last 50 years, healthcare spend has out paced GDP growth by about 2 percentage points a year in most OECD countries and there are few signs that this trend will slow. Read Full Report