Foreign exchange reserves are an integral part of the policy toolkit in African countries. Based on a survey of African central banks, this paper relates the reasons for holding reserves to some of the economic circumstances in their countries. It also discusses how African central banks address any political economy challenges arising from investing scarce resources into safe but low-yielding foreign exchange reserves.
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the BIS or its member central banks.