The Regional Research Network (RRN) of Central Banks of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) was launched in 2021 at the initiative of the World Bank’s Office of the Chief Economist for MENA. The three core objectives of the RRN are to increase the influence of scholarly research in decision-making; to promote economic and policy dialogue on the development challenges and opportunities faced by the economies of MENA; and to facilitate the exchange of experiences among the global academic community and Central Banks to help strengthen their research capabilities.
The Heads of research departments and/or Chief Economists of the Central Banks of Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, the Arab Republic of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and West Bank and Gaza make up the Steering Committee of the RRN, which is chaired by the Chief Economist for MENA of the World Bank.
The RRN conference seeks to bring together academics, policy makers, and development practitioners to present and discuss recent scholarly work on economic and policy issues that are pressing for the region. The first RRN conference (at the end of 2021) explored the challenges for macroeconomic policy in uncertain times. The second conference (in early 2023) focused on inflation dynamics. The conference was held in hybrid format in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The third edition of the RRN conference explored the nexus between labor markets and structural transformation. The conference was held in hybrid format in Rabat, Morocco on September 14-15, 2023. The theme of the fourth edition of the conference was "Navigating the Challenges of Uncertainty, Climate Change and Debt". The conference was held in person in kuwait City, Kuwait on January 29-30, 2025.
The fifth edition of the conference will be co-hosted with the Central Bank of Oman, and will be held in person in Muskat, Oman, on January 28-29, 2026. The conference theme is TBC.