This book looks at contemporary issues facing financial markets in Southern Africa. It has been established that African stock markets are confronted with a multitude of problems which include inadequate liquidity, low capitalisation, few market participants, a small number of listed companies and low trading volumes. As a result, their broader economic impact has so far been limited. The Southern Africa Development Community (‘SADC’) stock markets, with the exception of South Africa, are small both in terms of the number of listed companies and market capitalisation, and they display considerable illiquidity. In general, the SADC region has shallow and underdeveloped financial markets. Their development has been hampered by a number of factors which include; political and economic uncertainty, fiscal dominance, weak judicial institutions, limited investment opportunities in the private sector, technological constraints, and the shortage of skilled personnel with expertise in banking and finance.

This book looks at contemporary issues facing financial markets in Southern Africa. It has been established that African stock markets are confronted with a multitude of problems which include inadequate liquidity, low capitalisation, few market participants, a small number of listed companies and low trading volumes. As a result, their broader economic impact has so far been limited. The Southern Africa Development Community (‘SADC’) stock markets, with the exception of South Africa, are small both in terms of the number of listed companies and market capitalisation, and they display considerable illiquidity. In general, the SADC region has shallow and underdeveloped financial markets. Their development has been hampered by a number of factors which include; political and economic uncertainty, fiscal dominance, weak judicial institutions, limited investment opportunities in the private sector, technological constraints, and the shortage of skilled personnel with expertise in banking and finance.

The fifth of the series (ARIA/V) has come at a time of renewed enthusiasm for shortening the period of the vision of the Abuja Treaty. Its overall objective is to provide an analytical research publication that defines frameworks for African Governments, the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities, towards accelerating the establishment of the African Common Market through: the speedy removal of all tariff and non-tariff barriers, obstacles to free movement of people, investments and factors of production in general across Africa, and through fast-tracking the creation of an African continental Free Trade Area

The East African Community (EAC) has been among the fastest growing regions in sub-Saharan Africa in the past decade or so. Nonetheless, the recent growth path will not be enough to achieve middle-income status and substantial poverty reduction by the end of the decade—the ambition of most countries in the region. This paper builds on methodologies established in the growth literature to identify a group of countries that achieved growth accelerations and sustained growth to use as benchmarks to evaluate the prospects, and potential constraints, for EAC countries to translate their recent growth upturn into sustained high growth. We find that EAC countries compare favorably to the group of sustained growth countries—macroeconomic and government stability, favorable business climate, and strong institutions—but important differences remain. EAC countries have a smaller share of exports, lower degree of financial deepening, lower levels of domestic savings, higher reliance on donor aid, and limited physical infrastructure and human capital. Policy choices to address some of these shortcomings could make a difference in whether the EAC follows the path of sustained growth or follows other countries where growth upturns later fizzled out.

The debates over what African economic integration and development actually entails continue across international economic organizations, national governments and NGOs. Despite the glare of media attention and the position this issue has on international political agendas, few comprehensive accounts exist that fully examine why this process will be inevitable in the 21st century and how integration of national economies can be attuned to attaining the socio-economic goals and aspirations of member-countries. This book addresses this problem. It combines theory with application, enumerating the imperatives and initiatives governments will be forced to confront; providing insights for educators and students in African development, for policy makers in African governments, and for inter-governmental organizations.

This study analyzes the impact of regional cross-listing of stocks on the depth of the stock markets in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It analyzes data from 1990 to 2007 for a panel of 13 stock markets in SSA countries, only some of which have regional cross-listings. Using event study methodology, the paper finds significant positive effects in measures of stock market depth around regional cross-listing events. Overall, growth in the regional crosslisting of stocks facilitates stock market deepening, and the stock markets of countries with regional cross-listings perform better than those without. The study thus suggests that SSA countries can benefit from putting in place the necessary conditions for promoting regional cross-listings and thereby deepening their stock markets. These include sound legal and regulatory frameworks, macroeconomic and political stability, harmonization of listing rules, accounting laws and disclosure requirements across the region, and strong money markets.

We investigate the extent of regional financial integration in the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The limited volume data available suggests that regional integration is non-negligible. Bahrain and Kuwait investments especially are oriented towards the region. The development of stock markets in the region will also improve the extent of financial integration. Interest rate data shows that convergence exists and that interest rate differentials are relatively short-lived-especially compared to the ECCU, another emerging market region sharing a common currency. Equities data using cross-listed stocks confirms that stock markets are fairly integrated compared to other emerging market regions, although financial integration is hampered by market illiquidity.