Making finance work for Africa

Opportunity in Africa: the role of the financial sector

Across Africa, access to finance is seen as a key to unlocking growth for poor farm families as much as for expanding export firms. This book explains that Africa needs not only funds, but also a more effective and inclusive means of channelling funds and other financial services to where they can be most effective. It challenges the applicability of some conventional views on a range of issues from securities markets and banking regulation to the organisation of microfinance institutions.

Three key ideas recur in different forms throughout the book:

there is a clear institution-building agenda whose building blocks will yield clear benefits over time
despite the problematic political overtones, there is much to be said for being open to regional or international solutions
countries have benefited from adopting an inclusive approach, where regulators facilitate the emergence and growth of a range of different types of intermediaries and ownership structures, and of different types of financial products.

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Eldis

Making finance work for Africa