Achieving Financial Stability and Growth in Africa

'Packs a lot in 186 pages, is essential reading for specialists, and an excellent source of reference that should be on every central bank library shelf. - John Chown, Central Banking Journal 'Ahead of the 2008 crisis many economists assumed that financial deepening - including increased private credit as a percent of GDP - was always positive for economic growth. We now know that there can be too much finance and too much private credit. But good finance is still crucial to economic development, and low- income countries must use the lessons of the global financial crisis to help identify which forms of financial development are most beneficial. This book will play an important role in that debate, combining sound empirical analysis, informative case studies and thoughtful synthesis of the overall insights and implications.' - Adair Turner, former chair of the UK Financial Services Authority and author of Between Debt and the Devil 'This is a compelling factual study about a critical dilemma for policy making in LICs - delicately balancing the trinity of financial inclusion, financial stability and growth agendas. This is even more challenging in the face of globalisation, inadequacies within domestic jurisdictions, ongoing reforms to global regulatory architecture and new rules like Anti Money Laundering that pose unintended consequences.' - Louis Kasekende PhD, Deputy Governor, Bank of Uganda 'This book is very timely - we know that for many low income countries financial regulation is at a crossroads, as policy makers strive to find a promising way forward, after the global financial crisis (2007-8). Of course, some recent studies have tried to re-examine financial regulation post-2008. But this book is exceptional: it offers a nice twist, 'financial regulation for stability and growth'; it is meticulously researched, under an ESRC-DFID funded project on bank regulation, led by Stephany Griffith-Jones and involving other leading scholars in the field, who have deep appreciation for policy and practice. Moreover, the book presents a uniquely rich body of findings from four case studies, on Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Kenya, written by country scholars (e.g. the case on Kenya by Francis Mwega is a prize winner). The case study findings will ring bells with researchers and resonate with policy advisers and policy makers at central banks in Africa. Overall, I strongly endorse this outstanding book, which will strike a chord with many African central bank governors, on the question of financial regulation for stability!' - Professor Victor Murinde, University of Birmingham, UK This interesting book has both superb qualities and surprising omissions, discussing an important and highly topical subject. (...) [It] offers a comprehensive review of previous academic literature, and is based on a three-year international project. (...) [It] is essential reading for specialists and an excellent source of reference that should be on every central bank library shelf. - John Chown