Financial sector reforms in Africa: lessons from North African countries

Abstract

Many African countries took serious steps during the last decade to reform their financial sector. Among the features of this new trend is that it has made a clean break with the past. Unlike what prevailed in these countries in the 70's and the 80's, the new reform process entailed liberalisation of interest and exchange rates, development of money markets, dependence on market mechanisms in shaping the monetary management policy, increased competition between financial institutions and promotion of financial control and supervision machinery to ensure better performance of its functions' in the financial circles and the mobilization and allocation of financial resources.