Strengthening Financial Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa to Finance the Future Agenda for Sustainable Development

Sub-Saharan African financial systems are neither deep nor developed. Their banking sectors, concentrated and not mature, offer mainly short-term financing. Financial markets have a feeble liquidity, bond markets rely mostly on sovereign debts and equity markets on big companies. Governments and the International Community must play a major role to develop and deepen these financial systems and promote development through domestic private resources. Governments must limit uncertainties arising from regulation, build reliable institutions and infrastructures in order to establish confidence and market efficiency whereas the international community can support these reforms by providing the financial sector with technical assistance and counsels to firms.