The consecutive international developments have burdened African economies which have been already suffering from multiple problems.
This remark by Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Amer came during the 29th annual meetings of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (AAM2022) opened on Thursday in the New Administrative Capital in the presence of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.
“The whole world, especially regional and international financial institutions, has been closely following up the successive developments which rattled most of world economies,” the CBE chief added.
“Both developing and developed countries are suffering from major problems and challenges, notably rising inflation, and African countries are in the throes of domestic problems and experiencing shocks from without,” Amer said.
“African countries and regional financing institutions have borne the burdens of allocating a large part of their budgets and financing programmes to secure anti-coronavirus vaccines.
“Coronvirus has burdened African economies depending on imports and tourism, disrupted by travel restrictions due to the pandemic.
“The rising prices of staple foods and geo-political instability have overshadowed the international economy in general and African economies in particular, as energy prices are on the rise, which consequently affecting supply chains and shipping costs.”
Amer went on to say that policymakers must take serious measures to curb inflation and address financial weaknesses.
“Financial institutions became aware of their social responsibility in view of the consecutive challenges, noting that this has led to adopting policies and mechanisms leading to creating jobs and curbing inflation.
Communities must be better prepared to deal with changes and problems in development efforts in order to attain the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
He said Egypt is not away from the SDGs, but it cannot be denied that it was affected by those changes and problems.
“Thanks to economic reforms and wise political policies, Egypt overcame those challenges,” he said.
“The CBE worked with the government and Egyptian banks to take unprecedented measures in order to secure high levels of financial liquidity, which led to protecting jobs and securing society’s basic needs.”
He said the challenges required mobilising banking expertise and co-operating with the Egyptian government and supporting the state’s leadership in taking important decisions.
The CBE governor hailed the performance of Egyptian financial and banking institutions, which efficiently accomplished their missions to promote digitisation and financial inclusion in accordance with directives from President Sisi.
He referred to the sacrifices by the banking sector and its workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
He also commended the regional role of Afreximbank in pushing forward the wheel of development in Africa.
Egypt is closely following up Afreximbank’s efforts and initiatives as it gives top priority to African issues, especially for achieving comprehensive development in the continent, Amer said.
Chairman of Afreximbank Professor Benedict Oramah congratulated President Sisi for successes of the Egyptian government since assuming his office.
“President Sisi has proved to all that we can capitalise on greater potentials in Africa through determination, persistence, concentration and unity to make changes on the ground,” Oramah said.
Afreximbak disbursed $7 billion in December 2021 to central banks and small and medium-sized enterprises in order to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic, he added.
The bank also exerted painstaking efforts to provide vaccines in African countries, he said, noting that the bank rapidly responded to the call by the African Union to collect $2 billion to buy 400 million doses of coronavirus vaccines.
The bank co-operated with the AU in launching a compensation fund as a structural measure towards the transition in vaccine production, he said.
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