Achieving financial stability and growth in Africa
Chair
Dirk Willem te Velde - Head of the International Economic Development Group, ODI
Speakers
Stephany Griffith-Jones - Research Associate, ODI; Financial Markets Program Director at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University; and co-editor of Achieving financial stability and growth in Africa
Olu Ajakaiye - Executive Chairman, African Centre for Shared Development Capacity Building
Victor Murinde - Professor of Development Finance, Birmingham University Business School
Description
The issuing of sovereign debt bonds by African countries has soared sharply in recent years. But this carries growing borrowing costs and risks, which are heightened by global economic uncertainty, decline in commodity prices and volatile capital flows. Low-income countries in Africa risk their economies suffering if capital flows are reversed and/or the cost of international lending to them continues to increase, damaging long term investment and increasing numbers of people living in poverty.
Our panel of experts discusses how capital flows could best be managed, and what lessons might be offered from previous experiences in Africa and other emerging economies. More broadly, they discuss how domestic financial systems could be structured and regulated to achieve inclusive growth and financial stability.