President Muhammadu Buhari has charged Central Banks in Africa to continue to look for original home-grown solutions to the numerous financial and economic challenges facing the region, and that they should not rely on “fit for all purposes” prescriptions handed down from abroad.
The world, he said, is a dynamic place and that with innovation, the region can survive the challenges, even as he acknowledged that African Central Banks have been at their best in keeping African economies afloat through proactive and effective combination of conventional and innovative monetary policies.
President Buhari, who declared open on Thursday, the 2016 Annual meeting of the Association of African Central Banks (AACB), in Abuja, listed some of the challenges facing the continent as the slowdown in growth; weakening global demand; rising inflation; restrictions in capital flows; rising debt levels; increased exchange rate volatility and depleting external reserves.
“Those of us who rely on only natural resources such as Nigeria, Angola, South Africa, and Mozambique have been hit the hardest. We have also had to contend with the effect of the Ebola Virus Disease, which struck some countries in the West-African Sub-region. “Furthermore, China, a major trade and business partner to a number of African countries is currently slowing down as it remodels its economy, sparking fears of further weakening.”
The President, who commended the Central Bank of Nigeria for spearheading economic stimulus measures through specific intervention programmes which he said should be sustained through good times and through difficult times, noted that monetary policy alone is not sufficient to bring about desired economic growth.
“We must carefully balance monetary and fiscal policy measures.”
He said that while Nigeria appreciated the economic challenges and the need to surmount them, the country is determined to diversify the economy away from excessive reliance on oil and other primary products. “Consequently, we are taking measures and implementing policies that would ensure we are self-sufficient, generate massive employment for millions of our youth, and explore our untapped human and natural resources.
“We shall also embark on export and production diversification steps, including investment in infrastructure; promotion of manufacturing through agro-based industries and expansion of Regional Trade. All these would involve integrating the informal economy into the mainstream and providing funds to Small and Medium Enterprises.
“We shall also continue, with greater determination and focus to pursue our goal of ensuring improved security for our country and its citizens, and without letting up on our fight against corruption and terrorism.
“Side by side, with economic stimulus measures, we must intensify our surveillance and give guidance to the operations of our financial institutions to reverse the trend of illicit flows of funds out of Africa.
“We should all be serious in putting measures aimed at ensuring that the proceeds of these illicit flows are repatriated to their countries of origin with minimal bureaucratic hitches.”
The President welcome the theme of this year’s meeting of the Association, which is: “Unwinding Unconventional Monetary Policies: Implications for Monetary Policy and Financial Stability in Africa.”
He noted that the theme covers contemporary issues and is of special relevance to Africa.
The theme, President Buhari stressed, corresponds with a period when African economies are confronted with a number of growing and sometimes extraneous challenges that constitute threats to growth and the stability of the financial systems. [myad]
