Heads and senior staff of the central banks of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries are seeking ways of further developing the regional financial markets, paying special attention on structures and policies.

Their three-day meeting for the purpose was launched yesterday by the governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles Caroline Abel at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay resort.

The delegates are members of the SADC Committee of Central Bank Governors financial market’s subcommittee who will attend a macroeconomic subcommittee meeting on Thursday and Friday at the same venue to review research papers and discuss topics related to “macroeconomic convergence of the SADC”.

Ms Abel noted that the financial markets subcommittee members meet every year to further develop the countries’ financial markets “which in the end should provide a platform for enhanced economic growth in our region”.

“A well-developed, smoothly operating financial market plays an important role in contributing to the health and efficiency of an economy,” she said, adding that every SADC country and the region wish to attain financial market development. 

She said the areas being looked at during this meeting auger well with what the Central Bank of Seychelles is now focusing on:
“Recently, the bank has taken steps to assist the development of its financial market such as the launch of the stock exchange late last year,” she said, noting last year the bank also stepped up its efforts to modernise the payments system.

“We very much welcome the payment system visit to our bank by colleagues from the Reserve Bank of South Africa during this week, which is a testimony of the cooperation that we share in the region,” said Ms Abel.

“Furthermore, the development of the secondary debt markets and that of market trading practices are of great interest to the Central Bank of Seychelles in view of the modernisation that is happening currently. For Seychelles, it will definitely be a time that we can exchange views and learn from your experiences,” she told them.

She said the meeting will help the delegates learn from each other given that each country’s system is at different levels of development in many areas.

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