Back

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

September 5, 2024
Related topics: 
Economy
Africa

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

  • Potential or Peril: Carbon Trading in Africa
    Authors
    Mannat Jaspal
    June 11, 2024
    Carbon trading have long been touted as a silver bullet to channelise climate finance to African countries lacking the capital to support climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. The erstwhile ‘Kyoto Protocol’ and its successor ‘The Paris Agreement’, though much more comprehensive and wider in scope, both recognize the importance of carbon trading (a form of carbon pricing) in combatting climate change, and in the Paris Agreement the same is enshrined under Article 6 and its sub-c ...
  • Download PDF
    Financializing Commodity Markets: Consequences, Advantages and African Case Study
    Authors
    Otaviano Canuto
    Sabrine Emran
    Badr Mandri
    May 24, 2024
    Africa has a wealth of natural resources, including minerals, agriculture, and energy commodities, which provides an opportunity for the financialization of these commodities on the continent, a concept that has gained global attention and sparked debate on the potential benefits and drawbacks. Although the financialization of commodities has been studied in various contexts, including in African countries, challenges such as liquidity constraints and market readiness have emerged a ...
  • Gender gap in school learning: Micro-level evidence from Morocco
    Authors
    Aomar Ibourk
    Karim El Aynaoui
    May 22, 2024
    This Paper was originally published on sciencedirect.com The gender gap in education has been a significant concern for Moroccan policymakers and researchers, but the quantitative measurement of this gap has often been overlooked. This study specifically examines the gender gap in academic achievement in reading and mathematics at both the national and residential levels. The objective is to identify the factors that influence gender performance differences and their magnitude. To ...
  • Striking a Balance: Navigating Population Growth, Fiscal Constraints, and the Quest for Quality Services in African Countries such as Senegal
    Authors
    Mabingue Ngom
    May 17, 2024
    In today’s world, African governments face the challenge of not only providing basic services for their populations but also improving the quality of those services. However, resource constraints often make it difficult to provide high-quality services, creating a delicate balance between population growth, fiscal limitations and the pursuit of quality. This mission requires careful consideration and innovative solutions, especially in countries like Senegal. The Dilemma of Unmet S ...
  • Download PDF
    Artificial Intelligence in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities
    Authors
    Fahd Azaroual
    May 16, 2024
    The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Africa presents promising prospects and substantial challenges. While some countries on the continent stand out for their commitment and progress in preparing for AI adoption, others face significant obstacles such as structural inequalities and digital divides. This disparity highlights the need for an inclusive and holistic approach to ensure that all African countries can benefit from AI while closing the gap with other regions o ...
  • Download PDF
    L’Intelligence Artificielle en Afrique : défis et opportunités
    Authors
    Fahd Azaroual
    May 16, 2024
    L'intégration de l'Intelligence Artificielle (IA) en Afrique laisse entrevoir des perspectives prometteuses et pose des défis substantiels. Si certains pays du continent se distinguent par leur engagement et leurs avancées dans la préparation à l'adoption de l'IA, d'autres font face à des obstacles majeurs, tels que les inégalités structurelles et les fractures numériques. Cette disparité souligne la nécessité d'une approche inclusive et holistique pour garantir que tous ...
  • Download PDF
    Fostering investment and inclusivity in Africa’s Continental Free Trade Area
    Authors
    Larabi Jaïdi
    Bruce Byiers
    Saloi El Yamani
    May 14, 2024
    As the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) enters its fifth year, the rules of origin for trade in goods are still being finalised, but the institutional architecture is nearly complete with increased capacity, technical committees and new supporting instruments. Despite this progress in AfCFTA ‘policy supply’, meaningful trade under the AfCFTA is still to begin. For this to happen, there must be ‘policy demand’ from the private sector to use the agreement’s range of protoc ...
  • Download PDF
    Classes moyennes au Maroc : Au-delà des perceptions, que disent les chiffres ?
    Authors
    Abdelkhalek Touhami
    Dorothee Boccanfuso
    May 9, 2024
    L'idée d'un effritement de la classe moyenne marocaine est répandue, suggérant un glissement vers une classe aisée toujours plus riche et des classes plus pauvres ce qui sous-entend une augmentation de la polarisation dans la société. Cependant, aucune étude basée sur des données n'a été menée pour confirmer cette perception. Notre étude comble ce vide en analysant l'évolution de la classe moyenne entre 2012 et 2019. En utilisant la définition opérationnelle de Abdelkhalek (2014) de ...
  • Policy lessons from Okun’s law for African countries
    Authors
    Aomar Ibourk
    Karim El Aynaoui
    May 2, 2024
    This article was originally published on tandfonline.com   This article explores the intricate relationship between economic growth and unemployment across multiple African countries, with a focus on estimating the Okun’s coefficient. Data from the International Labour Office (ILO) and the World Bank’s databases for 39 African nations were utilised. Two distinct methodological approaches, first differences and the Hodrick-Prescott (HP) filter, were employed to assess result robust ...
  • Download PDF
    Assessing the Economic Impacts of Al-Haouz Earthquake: Damages and Recovery Strategy
    Authors
    Eduardo Amaral Haddad
    Karim El Aynaoui
    Abdelaaziz Ait Ali
    Mahmoud Arbouch
    Hamza Saoudi
    Inacio F. Araujo
    April 30, 2024
    This paper aims to quantify the economic loss from the earthquake that hit Morocco on September 8, 2023, and to evaluate the impact of the five-year reconstruction plan, that will account for roughly 8.5% of GDP. Given the geographically concentrated location of the earthquake, which hit some provinces in the central part of Morocco, the methodology used relies on an inter- province inter-industry Input-Output (IIO) table for Morocco. Assuming that the resources to be spent on infra ...