Private Sector Development in West Africa

This book examines key determinants of private sector development in West Africa, putting special emphasis on government’s cardinal role in fostering and supporting entrepreneurship. Favorable macroeconomic conditions are identified and it is shown that adequate policies that contribute to economic diversification and industrialization are likely to expand the investment base of the economy. The book also examines new business concepts and regional integration initiatives meant to enhance West Africa’s private sector and analyzes the role of finance in promoting development of private firms and the extent to which corruption impedes economic growth. All chapters are highly relevant to West Africa’s current policy challenges and therefore inform the region’s ongoing policy formulation. The empirical evidence supporting the policy recommendations is based on both qualitative field observations and advanced quantitative estimation techniques.

Diery Seck is Director of the Center for Research on Political Economy (CREPOL), based in Dakar, Senegal. He was Director of the United Nations African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (UNIDEP). Previously he served as Executive Director of the Secretariat for Institutional Support for Economic Research in Africa (SISERA) of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Before returning to Africa in 1995, he was Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Windsor in Canada and Economist at the World Bank in Washington D.C. He specializes in financial economics and development economics. Dr. Seck has authored several articles in academic journals and published books on economic development. He was co-editor of the Journal of African Finance and Economic Development. He is currently a member of the Editorial Boards of Global Governance Journal (University of Warwick) and the Journal of African Development. His latest books are entitled Fixing African Economies: Policy Research for Development; NEPAD and the Future of Economic Policy in Africa; Growth and Development in Africa; Back on Track: Sector-led Growth in Africa and Implications for Development; West Africa and the Global Financial Crisis and Regional Integration in West Africa.