African debt: sovereignty at stake
Every African now spends seventy dollars a year on interest payments on public debt alone, 1.8 times what the continent spends on health.
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Youth in the Middle East and North Africa: financial inclusion for employment
In 2023, according to the International Labour Organization, the unemployment rate of young women in North Africa and the Middle East reached 38.5%. That is one and a half times the rate for young men in the region, and nearly double the global average.
Economic reports focus on growth, the balance of payments or debt levels. They often overlook what matters most: no economy can develop sustainably if a large share of its young people, and young women in particular, remain outside the labour market.
Financial tools that create jobs
The latest study by the Economic Research Forum, covering seventeen countries in the region, shows a strong link between wider financial inclusion and lower youth unemployment. Mobile payments, local bank accounts, online microcredit: these services are no longer secondary, they contribute directly to employment.
European donors should draw the consequences. Rather than funding yet another guarantee fund, Brussels, Paris and Berlin could invest alongside financial technology companies licensed by the region's central banks, and steer migrants' money transfers towards productive activities, not only consumption.
The fifty billion euros sent by the diaspora
Africans living in Europe send more than fifty billion euros a year to their countries of origin, more than the official development assistance the European Union provides to the continent. Directing part of it towards businesses founded by women and towards agricultural value chains would create more jobs than another Euro-Mediterranean summit.
Financial inclusion is probably one of the most direct ways to give young people in the region economic independence.
Efficient Network — MEA Strategy & Development Consulting.