Financial inclusion is an important enabler of economic development and aligns with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In most sub-Saharan African countries, financial inclusion efforts take place in the presence of concentrated and bank-dominated systems. This study...

This report explores the potential of maturing technologies to address specific health financing challenges in East and Southern Africa. To the extent possible, it draws on examples from countries in the region and shows how some technologies have been used in other sectors that could inform...

Understanding the relationship between health capital and economic performance is crucial for policymakers in Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. This study explores this relationship in 14 SADC countries over a 14-year period (2005-2019), with GDP per capita as a measure of...

A severe drought is currently affecting southern Africa and the Zambezi basin, with extremely dry and warm conditions from October 2023 to March 2024. Heatwaves are exacerbating the impacts of the lack of precipitation. The average temperature is abnormally high, registering record values since...

In Sub-Saharan Africa, health care facilities face critical challenges in water supply, sanitation, and hygiene services; health care waste management; and environmental cleanliness. With coverage below 50 percent, these deficiencies pose significant health risks to patients and health care...

This study investigates the association between infrastructure development in China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to southern Africa, using a propensity score matching-difference-in-difference (PSM-DID) regression. The empirical examination is based...

Purpose - This paper aims to assess the impact of digital financial innovation on financial system development in Common Market for eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). This paper evaluates the dynamic relationship between digital financial innovation measures and financial system development...

The report (Volume 1) is structured in the following way: The first section provides an overview ofthe condition of the physical infrastructure and some of the challenges in maintaining and improving the network. The second section looks at the projected growth on the transport network up to...

Southern African Customs Union (SACU) countries are under pressure to commit themselves to sustainable environmental activities. This study employed data from 2007 to 2021 using quantile regression to determine the heterogenous effects of industrialisation on environmental degradation in SACU...

According to the GovTech Maturity Index (GTMI) 2022 update for the East and Southern Africa (AFE) region, eight countries are in group A or B, and the remaining 18 countries are in group C or D, exhibiting medium to low focus on GovTech initiatives in general. GovTech initiatives were primarily...

This paper examines the key determinants of firm growth in three Southern African countries of Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia and assesses whether exporting activity and use of information communication technology play any role in growth of the firms. The paper uses data collected by the World...

In addition to performing their basic fiscal functions, governments in developing economies are constantly challenged by new and re-emerging socioeconomic issues such as insecurity, hunger, natural disaster, collapsing infrastructure and disease outbreaks. These piles of challenges have made the...

External shocks disrupt the effectiveness of the central bank in stabilising prices. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of exchange rate movement on consumer prices in the SACU region for the period from 1990 to 2021 (31 observations for each nation). To achieve this, panel...

Revealing the harsh reality of trafficking in persons and forced labour within the Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Region, the Regional Baseline Assessment sheds light on prevalent challenges and critical gaps in addressing these criminal activities. Despite efforts to combat trafficking,...

The levels of human capital and skills differ widely between continents and over time. While skills and human capital on the African continent have improved over time, a gap with other continents remains (Penn 2019). Of more concern, the gap in human capital between Africa and the rest of the...

Access to drinking-water is a governance issue and central to Covid-19 prevention, yet it remains a critical challenge for marginalised and vulnerable households. This study assesses how local formal institutions in Malawi address equitable access to drinking-water for marginalised households...

The mining sector has become a focal point for the Malawian government, cited in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II 2012-2016 as a priority sector, accompanied by growth in contributions to GDP over the last decade. Harnessing the country’s resources can spur on national...

With the 14 members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) having set the objective of adopting a common currency for the year 2018, an expanding empirical literature has emerged evaluating the benefits and costs of a common-currency area in Southern Africa. This paper reviews that...

A study of the harmonisation of national mining policies conducted by the United Nations Economic Council for Africa (UNECA) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2009 concluded that “As large-scale mining activities increase, Malawi should benefit from a SADC-wide approach to...

This paper estimates the number and affordability of teachers required to meet different pupil-teacher ratio targets in 2030 for all education levels in 20 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. It finds that governments will need to recruit more than five million additional teachers. Based...

This paper evaluates a possible US-SACU (Southern African Customs Union) free trade agreement as part of a US approach to new preferential trade agreements characterized by the term competitive liberalization.' This is the idea that competition among large countries (US/EU) to negotiate...