Professor Murinde moderator a panel discussion at the UN-ECA Conference of Ministers 2021

Professor Victor Murinde of SFM participated in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA) Conference of Ministers 2021, which was held via Zoom during 19-22 March 2021. On Sunday 21 March, Professor Murinde served as moderator for a panel discussion on “Institutional Investors and Green Infrastructure Investment in Africa in the context of COVID-19”, in which the panellists included Finance Ministers from African governments as well as CEOs of leading institutional investment firms from Africa, the UK, EU and USA. The main message from the panel discussion was a call for greater partnerships between African governments, institutional investors (such as pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance funds, etc…) and research institutions (e.g. universities, think tanks, etc..) to create an institutional and regulatory framework for scaling up green infrastructure investment across Africa and fast track sustainable industrialisation for a stronger recovery and more resilient economies and societies. There was a call for a Pan-African Green Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Obituary- Professor Benno Ndulu

Sad news broke out early this morning regarding the passing on of Professor Benno Ndulu. Former Governor of the Bank of Tanzania, 2008-2018, he was a distinguished economics professor who was instrumental to the setting of the African Economic Research Consortium. Here at the SOAS Centre for Global Finance, we are blessed to have been able to count Benno as a friend and colleague; we particularly recall his recent participation in the CGF weekly research seminars last year just before the lockdown. Sad loss to the Economics fraternity, Africa and humanity. We send condolences to his family and friends. May his soul rest in peace and rise in glory.

Book Launch - Contemporary Issues in Development Finance

11 February, 2021 at 17:00 (CAT)

Professor Victor Murinde was key speaker, on Thursday 11 February 2021, at the virtual book launch hosted by the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) of the new volume, Contemporary Issues in Development Finance (ISBN 9781138324329, edited by Joshua Yindenaba Abor of the University of Ghana, Charles Komla Delali Adjasi of UBS, and Robert Lensink of the University of Groningen), published last month by Routledge, London. The 15-chapter book features eminent contributors from Africa, Europe, USA and Canada and provides comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of theoretical and policy issues in development finance from the domestic and the external finance perspectives and emphasizes addressing the gaps in financial markets. The volume features contributions from Co-Investigators on the ESRC-FDCO research project at SOAS led by Professor Murinde as PI. Partly focussing his key speech on his contribution to the book, in Chapter 10 on “Financial inclusion and economic growth”, Professor Murinde went further to explore new research areas, including the use of sovereign wealth funds in Africa for COVID-19 fiscal intervention.

Contemporary Issues in Development Finance provides comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of theoretical and policy issues in development finance from both domestic and external finance perspectives. The publication also places great emphasis on addressing the significant gaps in financial markets, particularly in Africa.