Governors of central banks mull development mandate

Abstract

The acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sarah Alade hosted a caucus of African Central Bank Governors on Thursday, in the margins of the joint ECA-AU ongoing Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development on the theme: “Industrialization for inclusiveness and Transformative Development in Africa”. The meeting learnt that the global financial crisis has brought about the need for synthesizing the traditional role of central bank with development functions. In the discussions a major area of tension was the question of rethinking the mandate of African central banks and whether the focus of their mandates should remain on price and financial stability or broadened to include measures that promote the development of economy in key areas such as industrialization. Core to the debate was the importance of remaining independent from influence from political influence in the interest of financial stability. Lopes argued for a balance between economic stimulus and financial stability.