MEFMI CONDUCTS A REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON MONETARY POLICY FORMULATION AND ANALYSIS

MEFMI conducted a regional workshop on monetary policy formulation and analysis from 22 to 26 August 2016.

The workshop followed recommendations from various MEFMI activities such as the 2014 Needs and Impact Assessment Report, 2015 Mid-Term Review of MEFMI and the 2015 regional Heads of Research and Policy Units of Central Banks and Ministries of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. 

In the latter activity, participants acknowledged that this course was useful in developing fully fledged economists and recommended that in order for MEFMI to increase research capacity and analytical skills, and to enable Member States to significantly contribute to MEFMI publications, MEFMI needed to do the following;

• Offer the course on a regular basis;

• Consider offering in-country workshops on monetary policy formulation in order to cater for individual country peculiarities, and

• Provide an e-learning mode of delivery for the course. 

It is in this regard that MEFMI conducted the workshop in response to the first recommendation. A follow up workshop is scheduled to be held in the next Phase (Phase V: 2017-2021). The follow up workshop is expected to go into more detail and focus more on exchange rates. In addition, other recommendations such as the provision of the e-learning course and specific in-country activities will also be intensified during the next Phase.

The objective of the just completed regional course was to address the demand for training in the area of forward-looking, model-based monetary policy formulation, analysis and decision making. The formulation and analysis of monetary policy requires both a well-defined system of monetary policy goals, objectives, targets and a developed set of policy instruments. As such, it requires substantial capacity development in the region.

The course consisted of a series of topics and these were:

• Monetary Policy – Definitions and Concepts;

• Macroeconomic Framework for Monetary Policy Formulation;

• Monetary Policy Regimes;

• Monetary Policy Instruments;

• Monetary Policy Formulation Cycle;

• Monetary Transmission Mechanism;

• Measuring Inflation and Exchange Rate;

• Introduction to Small Macro Model for Monetary Policy Analysis;

• Approaches to Monetary Policy Analysis; and

• Monetary Policy and Capital Flows.

The workshop was attended by 30 participants (15 males and 15 females) from 8 of the 14 MEFMI member states. Burundi, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia were not represented. 

The main output from the mission

1. Participants were equipped with analytical skills to analyses monetary policy.

2. Exchange of country experiences and challenges in monetary policy formulation and analysis.

3. Enhanced awareness on monetary policy formulation and analysis.

The MEFMI team members for the workshop were Mr. Sayed Timuno (Programme Manager – MEFMI Macroeconomic Management Programme) and Ms. Farirari Katongera- (Programme Assistant- MEFMI Macroeconomic Management Programme). Mr. Johnson Nyella, was the lead resource person and was supported by Mr. Austin Chiumia. Mr. Nyella is a MEFMI accredited fellow in financial programing and policy, as well as a Manager at the Bank of Tanzania, while Mr. Chiumia is MEFMI Graduate fellow in monetary policy and an economist with the Reserve Bank of Malawi.