Intelligence & Analysis

While the French Development Agency was celebrating its 75^th anniversary with a conference on “Commons and Development” early December, Jean-Michel Severino was interviewed on the topic by the blog Ideas for Development.

Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P) and the Foundation for International Development Study and Research (FERDI) publish a study on impact investment in Africa, entitled “Investing in Africa’s development: how impact investing can contribute to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa”.

The last reports published by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund reveal a signifgicant decrase of growth on the continent. Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to fall to 1.6 percent in 2016, the lowest level in over two decades. That being said, the pattern of growth across countries is very heterogeneous, and some countries are continuing to post annual average growth rates of over 6 percent.

The blog "Private Sector & Development", coordinated by Proparco, has recently published a contribution of Jean-Michel Severino, President of Investisseurs & Partenaires. Entitled "Acting sustainably to promote African small businesses: the challenge facing mission investors", the article highlights the needs for private equity financing for African start-ups and small growing businesses. 

The recent reports of the World Bank and the IMF underline the slowdown in African growth (expected at 3% for the coming year), under the combine effect of the continuing weakness in global growth and the falling commodity prices.

We observe however a great disparity among countries, and especially between oil importers and oil exporters. The fall of commodity prices is actually more of an advantage for the first group of countries, while it seriously questions the economic model of the second group.  

Three recent reports, published by the OECD, the GIIN and Morgan Stanley, offer in-depth analyses of impact investing, defined by the Global Impact Investing Network as the ‘’investments made into companies, organizations and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return”

The OECD, Social Impact Investment, Building the Evidence Base, February 2015

GRET conducted a study on the involvement of companies in development cooperation and international solidarity for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (Maedi). This study contributes to the French strategy to facilitate an inclusive social economy, which is now in its final phase and will hopefully soon be validated.

The Africa Growth Initiative just released the updated version of the annual Foresight Africa report.

As described by the authors, “this year's format is different from years past, encompassing viewpoints from high-level policymakers, academics, and practitioners, as well as utilizing visuals to better illustrate the paths behind and now in front of Africa”.