In the eve of the past week, IMF and the Central Bank of Tanzania held a regional workshop to improve tools to analyze the health of financial systems in Africa.
With the workshop opened by Governor of Bank of Tanzania, Benno Ndulu stated that countries within the region are at the early stages of developing frameworks and tools to analyse their financial systems based on the global recessions of 2008.
In a previous report orchestrated by African Development Bank , in 2009 Africa had 44 banking crises, 71 currency crises and 25 National debt crises. The report further highlighted that the basis of a systematic failure in resulting in a spring of financial calamities in regions. Banking, currency and national debt calamities.
Ndulu further stated that the workshop presented a unique opportunity to unite countries around the continent in sharing critical issues such as macroeconomic shocks, systemic risks, and policy coordination.
Dignitaries from Central banks of various countries including Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, Seychelles, Uganda, and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community representing Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Equatorial Guinea. With representatives from the West African Economic and Monetary Union representing Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.
The discussions at the workshop led to a general consensus on the relevant of tools that could be used o reduce systematic risk and reduce the occurrence of severe financial crises, more-so at a time of volatile global financial conditions. There was an added agreement that macro-prudential policies (a manner of economic analysis that evaluates the health, soundness and vulnerabilities of a financial system) should complement other additional policies that are beneficial to a developed financial system.
