In this paper, Prof. Ndung’u provides a unique, personal perspective of the development of M-Pesa. He discusses the need as a regulator to balance innovation and systemic risk while promoting competition. Competition was of itself a difficult concept when regulating an innovation being launched by a monopoly into a market for financial services containing dominant institutions. He is frank about the pressure he faced from the banking sector and policy makers and how these challenges were address
Category: Ed’s Article
The Global COVID-19 Health Pandemic and Its Implications for the African Economies
The African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) held its twenty-third Senior Policy Seminar virtually on Tuesday, March 30, 2021. The conference was on the theme: The Global COVID-19 Health Pandemic and Its Implications for the African Economies. Honourable Mutahi Kagwe, EGH, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Health, Kenya was the Guest of Honour at the official opening of the Seminar. The welcoming remarks were by Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u, AERC Executive Director, and a Keynote Speech was delivered by Dr. Arqebe Oqubay, Senior Minister and Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Amb. Erastus J.O. Mwencha, Chairman, Equity Bank & Former Vice Chair of the African Union & Former Secretary General COMESA served as the Chair of the Special Session honoring Prof. Bennu Ndulu.
“The current Covid-19 pandemic is damaging business ecosystems, affecting livelihoods, and threatening to overturn sub-Saharan Africa’s development progress and growth projections. The pandemic has once again brought to the fore these challenges and exposed the frailty of many of the institutions across the continent.” said Professor Njuguna Ndung’u, AERC Executive Director.
Yet, as the virus was late in arriving to the continent, we saw governments across Africa taking decisive actions to keep citizens safe and implementing global best practices and policies. While there are obvious capacity and execution shortfalls, there have also been several successful areas of practice.
Special Session in Honour of Prof. Benno Ndulu
Four speakers made their contributions in the Special Session that was organized to honor Prof. Benno Ndulu one of the most celebrated academic in Africa, policy leader and founder of AERC. The speakers were Prof. Sir. Paul Collier, Oxford University, UK, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, ISSER, Ghana, Dr. Frannie Léautier, Former Vice President, AfDB and Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u, AERC, Nairobi.
The late Prof. Benno Ndulu, passed away on the 22nd February 2021. Prof. Benno, a celebrated Economist, Mentor and Scholar, was the first Director of Research and the first African Executive Director of the AERC. Benno was also a member of the AERC Board, Chair of the AERC Programme Committee, founder member of the AERC African Central Bank Governors’ Forum, thought leader and paper presenter and discussant at AERC policy workshops. His commitment and dedication to the AERC and its mandate to build research capacity in Africa is highly commendable.
AERC Senior Policy Seminars are forums designed specifically to bring together senior policy makers from sub-Saharan African countries to exchange experiences and deliberate on topical issues pertaining to sustainable development of their economies. Participants in these seminars are drawn from the highest levels of government, including the presidency, ministers, governors of central banks, heads of civil services, permanent secretaries and heads of government agencies and parastatals.
About the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
Established in 1988, African Economic Research Consortium is a premier capacity building institution in the advancement of research and training to inform economic policies in sub-Saharan Africa. AERC’s mission rests on two premises: first, that development is more likely to occur where there is sustained sound management of the economy; second, that such management is more likely to happen where there is an active, well-informed cohort of locally-based professional economists to conduct policy-relevant research. AERC builds that cohort through a programme that has three primary components: research, training, and policy outreach. The organization integrates high quality economic policy research, postgraduate training, and policy outreach within a vast network of researchers, universities, and policy makers across Africa and beyond. Learn more at www.aercafrica.org, follow us for latest updates.
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New Publication: “Growing with Debt in African Economies through Improved Governance: Options, Challenges and Pitfalls” edited by Njuguna Ndung’u and Abebe Shimeles
“Growing with Debt in African Economies through Improved Governance: Options, Challenges and Pitfalls” edited by Njuguna Ndung’u and Abebe Shimeles was published from papers that emanated from the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) Plenary Session of December 2017 and June 2019. These papers have been published in the Journal of African Economies (JAE), Volume 30 Supplement 1 of November 2021.
The range of papers included in this volume include the following: Growing with Debt in African Economies: Options, Challenges and Pitfalls by Njuguna Ndung’u, Abebe Shimeles and Damiano K. Manda; African Countries’ Debt: A Tale of Acceleration at Multiple Speeds and Shades by Vera Songwe and Christine Awiti; Africa’s Development Debts by Benno J. Ndulu and Stephen A. O’Connell; Debt, Growth and Stability in Africa: Speculative Calculations and Policy Responses by Shantayanan Devarajan, Indermit S. Gill and Kenan Karakülah; Public Debt Accumulation in SSA: A Looming Debt Crisis by Michael Atingi-Ego, Sayed Timuno and Tiviniton Makuve and Corruption Perception and Attitude Towards Taxation in Africa by Amadou Boly, Maty Konte and Abebe Shimeles.
The Journal of African Economies is published by the Centre for the Study of African Economies at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. JAE and AERC have a standing agreement for the publication of AERC plenary papers in supplements of the journal. These plenary Papers are usually on cutting-edge economic research prepared by renowned economists and presented at the Plenary Session of the AERC biannual research workshop. Plenary Session is the opening session of a biannual research workshop that provides a forum for updating researchers on innovations in the discipline, as well as for deepening and widening thematic areas, through the presentation of papers, a keynote address and/or discussions by a policy round table.