The Urgent Need for Financial Reform to Mobilise Savings in Sub-Saharan Africa
By Sedat Aybar and Costas Lapavitsas
A highly unsatisfactory mobilisation of savings by the liberalised financial systems of Sub-Saharan Africa has severely constrained investment and growth in the region. To a large degree, Sub-Saharan savings are directed towards non-financial assets and the informal financial sector because:
• one can demonstrate status and wealth this way
• the financial environment is typically risky
• there are few formal options
• minimum deposit and balance requirements as well as the time and administrative effort needed to access the formal sector are too high
The paper highlights the need of improvements in access, adequacy and reliability of financial assets as well as more effective public mechanisms to mobilise savings.
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