Press Release No. 16/89

Press Release: IMF and Central Bank of Tanzania hold workshop on improved financial systems in Africa

March 4, 2016

On March 3–4, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) held a regional workshop – at the BoT Conference Center in Dar es Salaam – on improving the tools of analysis for assessing the health and soundness of financial systems across sub-Saharan Africa.

The workshop was opened by Benno Ndulu, Governor of BoT. IMF Deputy Managing Director Carla Grasso was in attendance at the closing of the workshop. In his opening remarks, Ndulu said that the timing of the workshop was pertinent given that most countries in the region were in the early stages of developing frameworks and tools for analyzing their financial systems due to the 2007-08 global financial crisis. He argued that the workshop presented a unique opportunity for bringing together countries from all over the continent to share their views on critical issues such as common macroeconomic shocks, systemic risks, and policy coordination.

Participants at the workshop agreed on the relevance and pertinence of the tools that can be used to limit systemic risk and reduce the frequency and severity of financial crises especially at a time when the region is facing headwinds arising from tighter global financial conditions. Participants also shared their experiences and exchanged knowledge regarding the implementation of macroprudential policies, emphasizing that these policies cannot deliver financial stability on their own. In this regard, participants agreed that macroprudential policy should not substitute other policies, but complement them.

The event brought together senior and mid-level officials from the financial stability supervision, and financial regulation departments of the following Central Banks: 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. Also in attendance were representatives of the West African Economic and Monetary Union representing Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. Senior level staff from the Africa Department, and the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the IMF were also in attendance.

Background

The workshop was informed by the Staff Guidance Note on Macroprudential Policy for Low Income Countries prepared by the Monetary and Capital Markets Department at the IMF in November 2014. Click here to access the note and here to read the Detailed Guidance on Instruments.