Money And Credit In An Indigenous African Context

In the course of Africa's economic development several types of money and multiple financial systems have evolved. This book examines the opportunities created by such diversity. The book analyses the supply of commodity money and attempts to apply conventional theories of demand to this type of money; examines the relative efficiency of commodity money and flat money; explains the impact of commodity money on the economy; and it analyses theories of interest and dividend payments on savings and loans in indigenous money and capital markets. The book pays particular attention to the organisation and functioning of the institutions involved in the informal commodity and financial money, capital and insurance markets, as well as the constraints that they face. It also points out the limitations of key non-indigenous financial institutions and compares and contrasts them with indigenous financial entities. In light of those limitations, the inability of the non-indigenous financial system to fully articulate the the indigenous African financial culture and adequately address the financial needs and interests of its clients, the book proposes an alternative Pan African financial system that is pro-poor. The book draws on various studies on the subject matter of money and credit based on research done in Western, Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.