COVID-19 cases were first confirmed in March 2020 in Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. These countries put in place several stringent measures, including lockdowns, to contain the spread of the virus. Various policies were also rolled out to address the disruption in economic activities, to...

The circumstances of the SSA region regarding the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) present a puzzle. In spite of the high rate of return on investment, the inflow of foreign investments keeps eluding the region, and the COVID-19 pandemic even perplexes the flow fragility the more. What...

Covid-19 has exacerbated economic and social vulnerabilities across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). There is a risk that growth could be lower for longer, with a setback to development. Post-pandemic reforms thus become even more important, especially with constrained scope for fiscal and monetary...

This paper takes stock of the economic performance of resource rich countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) over the past forty years. While those countries have maintained high levels of income per capita, they have performed poorly when going beyond the assessment based on...

Chapter 1. Terrorism Impact on Public Debt and Government Borrowing Cost: New Empirical Evidence from Long Run Relationship in MENA Countries -- Chapter 2. Digital gaps and economic inequalities in MENA countries: An Empirical Investigation -- Chapter 3. Assessing the determinants of capital...

This paper argues for a transformation of finance to support the economic and social transformation of the Middle East and North Africa. The paper first documents the existing financial system in the region. The system is heavily skewed toward banking, relative to non-banking services, such as...