Sri Lanka has been able to manage its economy through a devastating war, a crippling global financial crisis, a chaotic worldwide banking debacle, a critical global food crisis and a highly debilitating oil crisis, Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said last week.
“These were upon us one after another (over the past 30 years), without even providing us any breathing space, in between. Today, our country is positioned for great deeds in developing infrastructure and delivering prosperity to our people,” he told the 46th SEACEN Governors’ Conference and 30th Meeting of the SEACEN Board of Governors held in Colombo on February 25-26 according to a end-of-meeting statement issued by Sri Lanka’s Central Bank.
 |
| Ajith Nivard Cabraal |
That is why, he added, “we are excited about sharing our story with you, who have, in different ways, inspired us in our journey”.
He said as emerging economies, many Central Banks are facing higher capital flows and greater excess liquidity. “The composition of Central Bank balance sheets has changed significantly as we try to tackle these issues. However, these changes themselves entail new risks, which cannot be overlooked in the process of trying to achieve price and financial system stability.”
The 17 SEACEN members comprise the Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam; National Bank of Cambodia; People's Bank of China; Reserve Bank of Fiji; Bank Indonesia; The Bank of Korea; Bank Negara Malaysia; The Bank of Mongolia; Central Bank of Myanmar; Nepal Rastra Bank; Bank of Papua New Guinea; Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; Monetary Authority of Singapore; Central Bank of Sri Lanka; Central Bank, Chinese Taipei; Bank of Thailand and State Bank of Vietnam. The participating observer bank is the Bank of Lao PDR.
Participants at the conference and the Board of Governors meeting included Haji Mohd Rosli Haji Sabtu, Managing Director - Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam; Dr. Chea Chanto, Governor - National Bank of Cambodia; Dr. Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor - People's Bank of China; Dr. Choongsoo Kim, Governor - The Bank of Korea; Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor - Bank Negara Malaysia; Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada, Governor - Nepal Rastra Bank; Loi Martin Bakani, Governor - Bank of Papua New Guinea; Heng Swee Keat, Managing Director - Monetary Authority of Singapore; Fai-Nan Perng, Governor - Central Bank, Chinese Taipei; Dr. Prasarn Trairatvorakul, Governor - Bank of Thailand; Dr. Nguyen Van Giau, Governor - State Bank of Vietnam and Dr. Muliaman Dharmansyah Hadad, Deputy Governor - Bank Indonesia; and Maung Maung Win, Deputy Governor - Central Bank of Myanmar.
The keynote speaker at the conference was Naoyuki Shinohara, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.
The other speakers included Jaime Caruana, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements, Dr. Duangmanee Vongpradhip, Executive Director-South East Asia Voting Group of the International Monetary Fund, Professor Charles Goodhart from the London School of Economics, Dr. Y.V. Reddy, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and Professor Emeritus of the University of Hyderabad and Dr. Gavin Bingham, Secretary General of the Central Bank Governance Forum of the Bank for International Settlements with the theme of the conference being “Post Global Financial Crisis: Issues and Challenges for Central Banks of Emerging Markets”. President Mahinda Rajapaksa inaugurated the meeting.
|
E-mail
