This book provides a review of the evolution of the post-independence banking system in Africa. There is a strong focus on the problems of restructuring of banking institutions and the management of the bad and non-performing assets of public sector institutions. Three themes are explored:
Firstly, that government interventions in the financial sector, in the post-independence period, were at best largely ineffective as a tool of development and at worst had damaging consequences for the banks and for the whole economy.
Secondly, that financial liberalisation requires an understanding of the first set of financial reforms implemented in post independence Africa.
Thirdly, that financial liberalisation is made even more difficult in most African countries because it is carried out in response to severe economic crisis and therefore in conditions of acute macroeconomic instability.
This book is ideally suited for development economics courses as it provides revealing case studies of key countries which complement more theoretical books on money and banking in developing countries.
