Central Banks across the continent are being urged to adopt more efficient communication strategies. Country Representative of the International Monetary Fund Natalia Koliadina said that this demands adopting a more effective communication strategy.
She was speaking at the opening of 2017 Continental Seminar of the Association of African Central Banks in Accra.
The three day forum is on the theme Credible Communication Strategies for Central Banks in the Framework of Monetary Policy and Financial Stability.The forum is being attended by a representative from the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.
The meeting will among other things discuss Central banks communication in a crisis environment: lessons learned from the recent financial crisis, Monetary Policy Credibility and communication strategies: dynamics, structure and measurement of the impact on monetary and financial stability.
On his part , the second Deputy Governor, Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson Asiama said effective central bank communication must be underscored by accountability and transparency.
This, he said, would involve the deepening of understanding of economic relationships and their ultimate impact on inflation, and signalling monetary policy actions, which provided forward guidance to market participants.
He said forward-looking monetary policies could only be effective if the central bank was able to shape inflation expectations of the public to align with the medium term inflation target.
To do this, he said, the central bank needed to be transparent with regard to the monetary policy objective and provide a clear policy direction on how to achieve it.
About AACB
The idea of an Association of African Central Banks was first introduced on May 25, 1963, at the Summit Conference of African Heads of State and Government held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In this regard, African Heads of State and Government unanimously agreed to set up a preparatory Economic Committee to study a large range of monetary and financial issues, in collaboration with Governments and in consultation with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
Source: Africafeeds.com / Fred Dzakpata