Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin I. Emefiele, has been elected President of the Association of African Central Banks (AACB) for the 2016 - 2017 year. He was elected on Thursday by the Assembly of Governors of African Central Banks during its 39th Ordinary Meeting held at CBN Headquarters Abuja.

A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting said that the Bureau of the AACB for 2016 - 2017 comprises the following:

•Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, President of the AACB;

•Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Chairman of the West African Sub-region;

•Governor of the Central Bank of Mauritania, Chairman of the North African Sub-region;

•Governor of the Bank of Central African States, Chairman of the Central African Sub-region;

•Governor of the Banque de la République du Burundi, Chairman of the East African Sub-region;

•Governor of the Central Bank of the Kingdom of Swaziland, Chairman of the Southern African Sub-region;

•The nomination for Vice President of the AACB which comes from the Southern African Sub-region would be communicated later.

Twenty-seven member central banks and the African Union Commission (AUC) took part in the meeting preceded by a Symposium which was held on August 18, with the theme, “Unwinding Unconventional Monetary Policies: Implications for Monetary Policy and Financial Stability in Africa”. This Symposium was officially opened by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Assembly of Governors of the AACB examined the state of implementation of the African Monetary Cooperation Programme (AMCP). The Governors pointed out the inability of African states to sustainably meet some of the criteria for macroeconomic convergence because of the negative impact of the international environment including the fall in prices of raw materials and commodities. They called on countries to strengthen efforts at implementing structural reforms, in order to diversify their economies, improve the business environment and promote intra-regional trade, in order to strengthen their resilience in the face of external shocks.

The Governors also reviewed the implementation of the work programme of the Community of African Banking Supervisors (CABS). This programme has helped to set up an intranet platform to facilitate exchange of information between banking supervisors across Africa. To support the actions of the CABS, a project for collecting information on the activities of cross-border banks will be implemented in the coming months. It will allow for the identification of risks associated with these activities.

The Assembly of Governors chose the following theme for the year 2017 Symposium: “Prospects for monetary integration in Africa: Lessons learned from the experience of monetary and financial integration of Europe.”

•Photo shows AACB President Godwin Emefiele.

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