The Domestic Savings Shortfall in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Can Be Done about It?

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Domestic Savings Shortfall in Sub-Saharan Africa aims to increase knowledge about the key drivers of domestic saving rates in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), as well as whether alternative approaches, such as pension funds or fintech, could provide new solutions to increase domestic savings. The book also examines the lessons learnt from the experiences so far in different countries in SSA, and what can SSA learn from the experience of other regions which have been more successful in raising savings rates.

The book consists of two parts: thematic studies and country studies. The thematic studies examine the implications of new developments in African financial markets on savings behaviour, the role of sovereign wealth funds, pensions, and capital markets in augmenting savings and in economic development, the challenges of the debt crisis in Africa, the implications of financial liberalization for private saving in SSA, and lessons on how to increase savings rates from East and South Asia. The four country studies-Tanzania, Cameroon, and Ghana-examine the determinants of domestic savings. The countries were selected based on criteria that capture the diversity of savings performance in SSA. Each case study uses a common conceptual framework drawn from the life-cycle theory of savings and the same empirical methods to test for the determinants of savings using time-series data for the country in question. The findings of the book provide clear recommendations on how to increase savings in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Rose Ngugi

Rose Ngugi is a senior researcher and Executive Director, Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, where she manages research and capacity-building activities at the institute. Her research interests include financial sector developments, macroeconomic issues, and sustainable development. She has published widely in peer reviewed journals and discussion papers.

Kunal Sen is Director of UNU-WIDER, Helsinki, Finland, and Professor of Development Economics, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, UK (on leave). He has over three decades of experience in academic and applied development economics research. He has performed extensive research on the political economy of growth and development, international finance, the dynamics of poverty, social exclusion, female labour force participation, and the informal sector in developing economies. His research has focused on India, East Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. He was awarded the Sanjaya Lall Prize in 2006 and the Dudley Seers Prize in 2003 for his publications.