At independence in 1961, Sierra Leone was a severely underdeveloped country. During the celebrations of their fiftieth anniversary, Sierra Leoneans reflected on the fact that they had failed to make much progress in modernizing and developing their country. The per capita annual income of the country was still below $350. Sierra Leoneans made a new commitment to create an environment that would foster rapid economic growth that is sustained and widely beneficial to their own citizens. In brief, they announced a new determination to improve economic governance and economic management. All of the book's contributors are experts in their respective fields and the majority of them also have a deep knowledge of Sierra Leone, its history, the aspirations of its people and the policymaking challenges that the country faces. Many of the chapters address policy reform issues in specific areas: namely, the financial sector, export promotion, technical and vocational education and training, minerals, agriculture and food security, customary land tenure, the justice system as a whole, and the education of women and improvement in their employment prospects. Sierra Leone has been weak in coherent policy formulation and policy implementation. The message of this unique book on the country is that policymakers can greatly improve the country's economic growth prospects by designing and implementing policies over which they have adequate control. What is basically required is for Sierra Leoneans to understand what kinds of policies need to be implemented and then put in place management and governance arrangements that create the capacity to design and fully implement those policies.

This book presents a coherent framework for assessing economic policy making in developing countries, with special reference to those in Africa. The chapters focus on policy making issues in three critical areas that are of major importance in the African context: capacity building for domestic resource mobilization; regional integration in Africa and intra-regional trade; and export diversification of individual African countries. Although applying economic theory as well as using case studies and empirical evidence from the economics literature, the book is written in a way that makes the core ideas accessible even to readers without advanced knowledge of the technical economics involved. Economic Diversification and Growth in Africa is a timely study which demonstrates how developing countries in Africa can improve their policy making strategies to diversify their economies and accelerate economic development.

This Palgrave Pivot begins with a broad focus on financial sector development as a whole, highlighting areas such as the money market, payment system, and the capital market, as well as issues such as regulatory strategy, capacity building of financial firms and service providers, and financial inclusion. In the area of foreign exchange market policies, the book argues that African countries should aim for social efficiency of the markets, which would include soundness of their foreign exchange systems, from an economic growth perspective, and fairness from an income distributional perspective. Finally, in recognition of the fact that some African countries desire financial systems that are strong enough to be international centers of finance, the policy-making implications of that ambition are discussed. This book will be of interest to scholars and students in development economics, finance, and money and banking, as well as policy-makers and practitioners. Further, international organisations and independent research organisations interested in economic development in general or financial system development issues will also find this book of value.

This book presents a coherent framework for assessing economic policy making in developing countries, with special reference to those in Africa. The chapters focus on policy making issues in three critical areas that are of major importance in the African context: capacity building for domestic resource mobilization; regional integration in Africa and intra-regional trade; and export diversification of individual African countries. Although applying economic theory as well as using case studies and empirical evidence from the economics literature, the book is written in a way that makes the core ideas accessible even to readers without advanced knowledge of the technical economics involved. Economic Diversification and Growth in Africa is a timely study which demonstrates how developing countries in Africa can improve their policy making strategies to diversify their economies and accelerate economic development.

This Palgrave Pivot begins with a broad focus on financial sector development as a whole, highlighting areas such as the money market, payment system, and the capital market, as well as issues such as regulatory strategy, capacity building of financial firms and service providers, and financial inclusion. In the area of foreign exchange market policies, the book argues that African countries should aim for social efficiency of the markets, which would include soundness of their foreign exchange systems, from an economic growth perspective, and fairness from an income distributional perspective. Finally, in recognition of the fact that some African countries desire financial systems that are strong enough to be international centers of finance, the policy-making implications of that ambition are discussed. This book will be of interest to scholars and students in development economics, finance, and money and banking, as well as policy-makers and practitioners. Further, international organisations and independent research organisations interested in economic development in general or financial system development issues will also find this book of value.