Where international finance meets development: The role of currency risk (opens in new tab)

Currency volatility in African markets shapes development outcomes by determining who can access capital and on what terms, with firms in shallow financial markets often forced to choose between expensive local-currency finance and exchange-rate risk from foreign-currency debt. Addressing this requires both better micro-level evidence on how FX risk flows through households, firms, and investors, and policies that can expand financing access without simply redistributing risk.