Sub-regional Inception Workshop
Pretoria, South Africa
3-7 July 2012

UN-DESA/DPAD organized the sub-regional workshop on “Financial Sector Development and Implications for Growth, Employment, Equity and Economic Development: International Experience and Lessons Learnt” in partnership with the Economic Development Department and UNDP, South Africa. UN-DESA sponsored the participation of Prof. Joseph Stiglitz as the keynote speaker at the workshop, which was inaugurated by Mr. Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Economic Development of the Government of South Africa. The Minister thanked UN-DESA for organizing the workshop and also for providing necessary policy advisory support on macroeconomic and employment related issues. UN-DESA/DPAD also sponsored Prof. Akbar Noman (Columbia University) and Prof. C.P. Chandrashekhar (Jawharlal Nehru University) as resource persons. Senior policy makers from the Economic Development Department (EDD), the Department of Trade and Industry, the National Treasury of the Government of South Africa, as well from academia and other non-governmental stakeholders such as the CSID, engaged in the financial sector policies of South Africa, and senior policymakers from Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Zambia participated at the workshop.

The Workshop formally launched the Research and Policy Analysis Programme (RPAP) jointly implemented by EDD, UN-DESA/DPAD and UNDP-South Africa to analyze the role of the financial sector in the overall economic development of South Africa, particularly the impact of financial sector development on consumption, savings, long-term investments, employment and income distribution. A team of South African economists at the Corporate Strategies and Industrial Development Research Programme (CSID) of the University of the Witwatersrand are involved in implementing the research agenda of RPAP during 2012 and made a presentation at the workshop. UN-DESA/DPAD made a presentation at the workshop, titled, “Financial Market Liberalization and Its Impact on Sub-Saharan Africa.”