ALGIERS – Sunday, 17 September 2023 (APS) – Prime Minister Aïmene Benabderrahmane reiterated Sunday, in Algiers, during the opening of the 47th ordinary session of the Board of Governors of the Arab Central Banks and Monetary Institutions, Algeria’s full willingness to back all the efforts aimed to strengthen the Arab cooperation, welcoming the constant support of the President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune to these efforts.
Speaking at the opening of this meeting, held under the patronage of the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister said that “Algeria has always backed the financial and monetary stability in the Arab region, and that its commitment to these principles will continue,” insisting on the joint Arab action to strengthen the financial stability, boost the economic growth and improve the quality of Arab citizens’ life, so many objectives to achieve with the participation of central banks and Arab monetary institutions that could play a key role in this regard.
In this regard, Benabderrahmane affirmed that “the countries of our region should seize the importance of innovation and the digital transformation in the financial sector,” underlining that “Algeria, thanks notably to its new monetary and banking law, progress in the digitization of its economy while taking care to ensure the security and reliability of financial systems.”
He also welcomed, in this regard, the launch in 2018 by the Arab Monetary Fund (FMA) of the platform “Buna” in accordance with the norms, requirements and international principles of the global financial market, a joint Arab action aimed, he added, at improving the payments infrastructure in the Arab world in order to facilitate and secure trading and investments, by connecting, via this platform, several Arab commercial and central banks.
Benabderrahmane broached the external financing of the financial needs of some Arab countries, in the context of the rise in the global interest rate, causing an increase in the Governments’ debts of several countries, as the overall debt of the Arab countries was estimated at over USD360 billion, which is considered as an “urgent problem for the public policies on the means to adapt them to reduce the impact on the overall economic situation and the financial stability of the Arab countries in the current circumstances.”
In this regard, he said that the joint Arab action “will enable overcoming all the difficulties we are facing,” affirming that the Arab Monetary Fund is a solid institution, likely to be an essential technical and financial support to our Arab countries, necessary to deal with the current phase.”
The Prime minister affirmed that this meeting is an opportunity to support the important role of Arab central banks and monetary institutions, as the objective is to strengthen the cooperation and encourage the exchange of expertise between the Arab countries in terms of the work of the central banks.