In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.

The Staff Report for the 2012 Article IV Consultation states that the policy pursued by South Africa has resulted in domestic and external stability, despite prevailing adverse circumstances. Given the volatile situation in the world economy as a whole—and Europe in particular—countercyclical monetary policy should be pursued, as fiscal revenue is likely to decline further. The report advocates utmost vigil from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to provide the much needed impetus to the economy by instilling investor confidence and a tight leash on future inflationary trends.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, there has been a worldwide search for alternative investment opportunities, away from advanced markets. The African continent is now one of the fastest-growing economic regions in the world and represents a viable destination for foreign direct and portfolio investment. This book, which is the first comprehensive analysis of financial integration and regulation in Africa, fills a huge gap in the literature on financial regulation and would constitute an invaluable source of information to policy makers, investors, researchers and students of financial regulation from an emerging and frontier markets perspective. It considers how financial integration can facilitate African financial markets to achieve their full potential and provides a comparative study with the EU framework for financial integration and regulation. It assesses the implementation of effective and regional domestic infrastructures and how these can be adapted to suit the African context. The book also provides an assessment of government policies towards the integration of financial regulation in keeping with the regional agenda of the African Union (AU) and the African Economic Community (AEC).

The staff report for the 2013 Article IV Consultation on Guinea-Bissau highlights the economic development and policies. Guinea-Bissau’s medium-term challenges are to diversify its economy, reduce widespread poverty, and generate employment opportunities. Recurrent internal conflicts have negatively affected economic growth, poverty reduction, and social advancement in Guinea-Bissau. The economic performance will depend critically on establishing a visibly inclusive political process while moving toward demobilization, and professionalization of the military forces. In the baseline, uncertainties about implementation of those conditions suggest scope for only a slow and weak recovery, leaving real per capita incomes below 2011 levels until at least 2016.

Tanzania has weathered the adverse shocks of recent years relatively well. Revenue collection for 2010–11 has fallen short of targets, constraining public spending and contributing to the emergence of arrears. Monetary policy has become less accommodative. The near-term economic outlook is subject to a higher-than-average degree of uncertainty with a rising risk of donor aid shortfalls and higher international fuel prices. Over the medium term, growth could gradually rise to 71⁄2 percent––thanks to large investments in mining and continued growth in the non-mining economy.