Africafé: Financial Constraints in the Pursuit of Economic Development in Africa

September 5, 2024

Africa's economic growth is significantly hampered by financial constraints, which pose significant challenges. These constraints severely limit investments in critical areas such as infrastructure, education, and healthcare. Addressing these issues is crucial for achieving sustainable development and enhancing living standards across the continent.

In this episode, we host Miss Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, the President & CEO of African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) to explore innovative transformation models adaptable within Africa to foster economic growth. We identify primary sources of financial constraints, including limited access to financing and high borrowing costs, hindering economic development in African countries. We also analyze the pivotal role of domestic financial institutions and markets in either alleviating or exacerbating these constraints, and discuss strategies to enhance access to finance, support entrepreneurship, and promote sustainable development.

Speakers
Ahmed Ouhnini
Economist, Policy Center for the New South
Ahmed Ouhnini is an Economist at the Policy Center for the New South. His research area covers agricultural economics, human and social development. Previously, he has worked as a researcher at the Paris School of Economics (PSE) and has also a record of working in consulting services in Morocco. Ahmed holds an engineering Diploma in Agriculture and Rural Development from the National School of Agriculture of Meknes and a Master’s Degree in Law, Economics and Management from the Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne Institute of Development. ...
Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi
President & CEO of the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET)
...

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    December 9, 2022
    The global wave of democratic retrenchment has not spared North Africa as seen in the cases of Tunisia and Sudan, where democratic transitions have stalled or regressed into autocracy. How do to explain Tunisia and Sudan’s troubled transitions from authoritarian rule? Both states are attempting to transition from single-party authoritarianism. In both cases, economic crises exacerbated by COVID, the Russian-Ukraine war, and involvement by external actors stymied the fragile transiti ...
  • December 8, 2022
    Cette étude concerne 33 États du continent africain où, en 2022, le % des détenteurs de cryptomonnaies de chaque pays, par rapport à sa population est au minimum de 1 %. À eux seuls, trois parmi ce groupe de pays, que sont l’Afrique du Sud, le Kenya et le Nigeria, totalisent plus de 333 millions de personnes, avec des pourcentages de leurs détenteurs de cryptomonnaies proches compris entre plus de 12 % en Afrique du Sud, plus de 11 % au Kenya et plus de 10 % au Nigeria. À l' ...
  • November 24, 2022
    This chapter was originally published in the book "Africa–Europe Cooperation and Digital Transformation", co-edited by Chux Daniels, Benedikt Erfoth, and Chloe Teevan Since the mid-2010s, North African countries have been pursuing what some observers have called a “return to Africa” (Dworkin, 2020). Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia have attempted to position themselves as major components of Europe- Mediterranean-Africa infrastructure and supply chains corridors (Tanchum, 2020). The thr ...
  • November 22, 2022
      يعتمد مشروع قانون المالية لسنة 2023 أولويات يمكن تلخيصها في أربعة محاور تهم "ترسيخ ركائز الدولة الاجتماعية، وإنعاش الاقتصاد الوطني من خلال دعم الاستثمار، وتكريس العدالة المجالية، واستعادة الهوامش المالية من أجل ضمان استدامة الإصلاحات". ونظرا لأهمية النظام الضريبي في تحقيق الانتعاش ا...
  • Authors
    November 17, 2022
    This piece examines the role of labor and religious movements in the face of the “informalization” of the African economy. How does the growth of an informal sector set back class formation and labor activism? How will the rise of economic networks outside formal economic and political channels affect state capacity? Can labor unions develop organizational independence if the labor market is segmented with a growing number of informal workers? What happens when labor market “insider ...
  • Authors
    November 11, 2022
    If the recent peaceful transfer of power in Madagascar heralds a new trend, then the Malagasy people can dream big. For decades, the exercise of economic-cum-political power in the hands of a tiny elite has held the entire nation hostage. Today, the high poverty rate—around 80% (2021) stands in stark contrast to the natural resource abundance of this huge enormous island. There is hope, however, that with political stability, the Plan d’Émergence Madagascar (PEM) President Andry R ...
  • November 4, 2022
    Panel 2: Les Communautés Economiques Régionales : Quel apport à la résilience africaine dans un contexte de chocs multidimensionnels ? Modérateur:            Abdelaaziz Aït Ali, Manager – Département d’économie, Policy Center for the New South   Intervenant.e.s : Nezha Alaoui M’hamm...