Ahead of us, other issues still require attention: –  So far, most of our attention has been on strengthening the resilience of the banking system, and rightly so. Yet, the shadow banking sector remains a large part of our financial systems, less regulated, but nonetheless significant in the credit intermediation and maturity transformation, and subject to runs in damaging ways.
The annual current account balance in Japan, which reached a deficit of $ billion in 1998, is expected to increase further to $ billion in 1999 before falling somewhat to $ billion in 2000. This expected turnaround in the performance of the Japanese economy is not only critical for Africa’s development but for the whole world. Japan undertakes significant direct trade with Africa.