By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Tuesday said Africa’s central bank officials from Anglophone countries took part in an advanced course on key elements of the Forecasting and Policy Analysis System (FPAS) as it is used at leading central banks around the world.
The IMF in a statement made available to InvestAdvocate said the course is part of the Fund’s efforts to assist sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries to modernise monetary policy.
According to the IMF, the course started with a review of modern monetary policy making, emphasising its forward-looking character. ‘’Participants learned about new forecasting techniques and applied them to country studies, including in the context of a macroeconomic model’’ the IMF said.
Rundheersing Bheenick, governor of the bank of Mauritius at the final session of the seminar spoke about Mauritius’s experience with monetary policy making since the establishment of the monetary policy committee in April 2007.
“Models provide estimates of what is not observable and guide policymakers in their discussions, … but modeling needs to be more rigorous,’’ he said.
The IMF said in this context, Bheenick emphasised the importance of developing the home-grown capacity in inflation modeling and analysis and in tailoring models to the specificities of countries.
In the same vein, Bulir (ICD, course director) indicated that the course strengthened the capacity of the participants (who are also recipients of IMF’s technical assistance) in the area of quantitative monetary analysis.
‘’The IMF and its regional technical assistance centres will continue to provide extensive follow-up technical assistance and training on modeling and forecasting, which is an essential element of the on-going modernisation of monetary policy frameworks in sub-Saharan Africa,’’ Kramarenko, ATI director said.
Thirty-one central bank officials attended from 14 sub-Saharan countries: Angola, Botswana, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
