Webinar: Lowering the high interest rate cost of housing finance in Africa

Thursday June 21, 2018 at 1pm GMT (9am EST, 3pm Johannesburg)

High interest rates in countries across Africa continue to limit access to finance for affordable housing: “Fiscal dominance, weak regulatory frameworks that drive up credit risk premiums, a lack of long-term funding and limited use of collateral value all drive up the interest rate cost of housing in Africa”. At this webinar, co-hosted by CAHF and Making Finance Work for Africa (MFWFA), Michael Fuchs will present a paper he has recently authored on this critical issue, titled “Lowering the high interest rate cost of housing finance in Africa“. 

Michael is currently working as a consultant to the World Bank and other donors on financial sector development in Africa and East Asia. Until June 2013, he served as Advisor and Acting Sector Manager in the Finance and Private Sector Department of the World Bank’s Africa Region. Since 2002, Michael has worked extensively on financial sector development in the Africa Region, undertaking financial sector assessments in eight countries and for the group of countries in the East African Community, as well as leading policy reform and technical assistance operations in Kenya and Nigeria.

The webinar looked at underlying reasons for high interest rates and provided insights into the measures that might be taken to reduce the interest rate cost of housing across the continent.