Muscat: The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) participated in the 46th meeting of the Council of Arab Central Banks and Monetary Authorities’ Governors organised by the Arab Monetary Fund in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on September 18 and 19.
Malik Abdullah Al Mahrooqi, Advisor at the Executive President Office, represented CBO in this meeting.
During the meeting, the Council discussed several topics, including the global inflation wave and its repercussions on monetary policy in the Arab countries, the climate change impact on the financial sector and banking services, and the challenges of shifting towards green finance.
The meeting also took stock of the requirements and challenges of rebuilding capital and liquidity margins in the banking sector after lifting the facilitation packages.
The Council examined the recommendations proposed by a number of committees and working groups, including the Arab Committee for Banking Supervision, Regional Working Group for Promoting Financial Inclusion in the Arab Countries, Working Group for Financial Stability, Arab Committee for Payment and Settlement Systems, Arab Committee for Credit Information, and Working Group for Modern Financial Technologies.
The council was also briefed on the Arab Financial Stability Report 2022 and the Unified Arab Economic Report 2022, in addition to other topics related to the banking sector in the Arab world.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Malik Al Mahrouqi attended a high-level roundtable on ‘Central Bank Digital Currencies and the Future of the Monetary System’.
The roundtable included various discussions on the designing, technical and regulatory requirements related to issuing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The role of CBDCs in promoting financial inclusion and the applications of digital currencies in cross-border payments were also discussed.
The roundtable concluded with a panel discussion on future policies and plans for the banking sector in the region.
