The 39th Ordinary meeting of the Assembly of Governors of the
Association of African Central Bank Governors (AACB) has ended in Abuja,
with the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele
elected as the President of the ACCB for the 2016 – 2017 year.
Elected,
alongside Mr. Emefiele, to run the affairs of the Bureau for the period
are the Governor of the Bank of Ghana as chairman of the West African
sub-region; Governor of the Central Bank of Mauritania, Chairman of the
North African sub-region; and the Governor of the Bank of Central
African States, Chairman of the Central African Sub-region.
Also
elected were the Governor, Banque de la Republique du Burundi as
Chairman of the East African Sub-region and Governor of the Central Bank
of the Kingdom of Swaziland as Chairman of the Southern African
Sub-region.
Reading the communique at the end of the meeting of
Governors, the new AACB President, Mr. Emefiele disclosed that the
nomination for the Vice Chairman of the AACB, which is zoned to the
South African Sub-region, would be made known in due course.
The
Assembly of Governors also chose: “Prospects for monetary integration in
Africa: Lessons learned from the experience of monetary and financial
integration of Europe,” as theme for the 2017 symposium.
According
to the communique, the meeting noted that the unwinding of
unconventional monetary policy measures, adopted during the financial
crisis by the United States Federal Reserve and central banks of
developed countries, could have a negative impact on African countries
due to the interconnectedness of economies.
However, the congress
noted that the unwinding of unconventional monetary policy could be an
opportunity for African countries to develop appropriate measures to
strengthen their resilience in the face of exogenous shocks.
The
Assembly of Governors therefore stressed the necessity for African
countries to diversify their economies and improve exports, while
limiting imports.
The Assembly also emphasised the urgent need for coordination between monetary and fiscal policy across all African countries.
The
Governors equally examined the implementation status of the African
Monetary Cooperation Programme (AMCP) and pointed out the inability of
African States to sustainably meet some of the criteria for
macroeconomic convergence due to the negative impact of certain
variables within the international environment.
They therefore
urged African countries to strengthen efforts at implementing structural
reforms in order to diversify their respective economies, improve the
business environment and promote intra-regional trade as a way of
strengthening their resilience amidst external shocks.
In
reviewing the implementation of the work programme of the Community of
African Banking Supervisors (CABS), which it noted had helped to set up
an intranet platform for exchange of information among African banks,
the AACB disclosed plans to unveil a project for collecting information
on the activities of cross-border banks. This, the AACB noted, would
allow the identification of risks associated with the activities.
The
39th Ordinary meeting of the Association of African Central Banks
(AACB) was attended by 27 member Central Banks and the African Union
Commission (AUC)