Central banks and the challenge of development

A special meeting of governors held at the BIS, Basel, 14-15 March 2006.

The informal discussions among governors at this meeting underlined a good deal of common ground among central banks in developing countries. Even where countries had made different policy choices, the dilemmas they had had to address were often very similar.

The particular focus of this meeting was on Africa. The steady decline in inflation across the whole continent - there are sadly one or two dramatic exceptions - is a justifiable source of pride for many African central banks, and this in itself creates an environment that favours development.

Several key policy issues were analysed: the challenges of increased financial inflows; the interaction between central bank and government; the choice of anchors of monetary policy; financial access and financial stability; the implementation of Basel II and the management of the exchange rate.

Contributions

Central banks and the challenge of development: an overview of a roundtable debate (PDF, 4 pages, 154 kb)
Malcolm D Knight

The challenges of development (PDF, 4 pages, 69 kb)
Amartya Sen

The global economy and Africa: the challenges of increased financial inflows (PDF, 9 pages, 77 kb)
M S Mohanty and Philip Turner

The relationship between the central bank and the government (PDF, 10 pages, 74 kb)
Paul Moser-Boehm

Financial access and financial stability (PDF, 8 pages, 70 kb)
Penelope Hawkins

The implementation of Basel II (PDF, 4 pages, 49 kb)
Jaime Caruana

Anchors for monetary policy (PDF, 8 pages, 68 kb)
Paul Masson

The choice and design of exchange rate regimes (PDF, 10 pages, 132 kb)
Már Gudmundsson