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Annual Central Bank Conference on Development Economics in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan

MENAAP Central Bank Conference on Development Economics
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  • The Regional Research Network (RRN) of Central Banks of the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (MENAAP) was launched in 2021 at the initiative of the World Bank’s Office of the Chief Economist for MENAAP. 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 MENAAP; 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 MENAAP 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 February 11 and 12, 2026. The conference theme is: Resilience and Reform in the Age of Disruption: Rethinking Policy, Technology, and Transformation in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (MENAAP).

     

  • 4th Annual Central Bank Conference on Development Economics in the Middle East and North Africa

    NAVIGATING THE CHALLENGES OF UNCERTAINTY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND DEBT
     

    The theme of the 4th Annual Central Bank Conference on Development Economics in the Middle East and North Africa is “Navigating the Challenges of Uncertainty, Climate Change and Debt".

    The conference will be hosted by the Central Bank of Kuwait in Kuwait City, Kuwait on January 29-30, 2025. H.E. Basel Al-Haroon (Governor, Central Bank of Kuwait), Nadir Mohammed, Regional Director, Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions, Middle East and North Africa, World Bank, will make opening remarks. Safaa El Tayeb El-Kogali, Country Director for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Middle East and North Africa, World Bank, will make closing remarks. Ziad Daoud, Chief Emerging Markets Economist, Bloomberg Economics; Indermit Gill, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, World Bank; Ugo Panizza, Professor of Economics, Department Head, and Pictet Chair in Finance and Development at the Geneva Graduate Institute; Lucrezia Reichlin, Professor of Economics at the London Business School will offer keynote addresses at the 4th edition of the RRN conference. The conference will also feature 12 research papers, grouped in the following themes: The Macroeconomic Consequences of Climate Change, Uncertainty, Climate Change and Economic Behavior, The Economic Analysis of Energy Transition and Carbon Pricing, Sovereign Debt in a Changing Climate.

    Selected Research Papers

    Agenda

    Speakers Bios

    Presentations
     

  • 3rd Annual Conference of the Regional Research Network of the Central Banks of the Middle East and North Africa

    Day 1 Watch the live stream here

    Day 2 Watch the live stream here

     

    The theme of the 3rd Annual Central Bank Conference on Development Economics in the Middle East and North Africa was “Labor Markets and Structural Transformation.”

    The conference was hosted by Bank Al-Maghrib in Rabat on September 14th and 15th, 2023. H.E. Abdellatif Jouahri (Governor, Bank Al-Maghrib), Ferid Belhaj (Regional Vice President, World Bank), and Younes Sekkouri (Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills) made opening remarks. Esther Duflo (Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Chang-Tai Hsieh (Phyllis and Irwin Winkelried Professor of Economics, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business), Seema Jayachandran (Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University), and Rachel Ngai (Associate Professor of Economics, The London School of Economics and Political Science) offered keynote addresses at the 3rd edition of the RRN conference. The conference also featured 15 research papers, grouped in the following themes: Structural Change: Drivers, Consequences, and Policies; Gender Inequality, Poverty, and Labor-Market Reforms; Labor Markets, Human Capital and Structural Change in MENA; Migration, Growth, and Structural Transformation; Shocks, Labor Markets and Enterprises.

    Selected Research Papers

    Agenda

    Speakers Bios

     

  • 2nd Annual Central Bank Conference on Development Economics in the Middle East and North Africa

    The theme of the 2nd Annual Central Bank Conference on Development Economics in the Middle East and North Africa was “Inflation Dynamics During Uncertain Times: The Path Toward Stable and Sustainable Recovery.”

    The conference was hosted by the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh on January 31st and February 1st, 2023 (in hybrid mode). The conference featured 18 research papers, grouped in the following themes: Domestic and External Drivers of Inflation in MENA (two sessions); the Role of the Dollar and U.S Interest Rates; Macroeconomic Management in Open Economies; and the Role of Supply Chains.  

    A panel discussion between Indermit Gill (Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, World Bank) and Raghuram Rajan (Professor of Finance, University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, and Former Central Bank Governor, India) closed the second day of the conference.

    Selected Research Papers

    Agenda 

    Speaker Bios

    PowerPoint Presentations

    Video of Day 1 of the conference

    Video of Day 2 of the conference

  • 1st Annual Central Bank Conference on Development Economics in the Middle East and North Africa

    The theme of the 1st Annual Central Bank Conference on Development Economics in the Middle East and North Africa was “Macroeconomic Policy: Innovation and Challenges during Uncertain Times.”

    The conference was hosted by the Central Bank of Tunisia and was held fully online on December 1 – 2, 2021. The conference featured 18 papers grouped in three pairs of parallel sessions grouped in the following themes: Macro Modelling in the COVID era; Finance and Macroeconomics; Crisis Impact on the Banking Sector; Macroeconomics of Calamities; Managing Business Cycles; and Financial Risks in MENA and Policy Implications from Banking Sector.

    The keynote speaker was Carmen Reinhart, Professor of the International Financial System at Harvard Kennedy School, former Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank Group). The conference included a session on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) with John Kiff, Research Director at SODA (Sovereign Official Digital Association), Head of CBDC/Digital Capital Markets Advisory at Satoshi Capital Advisers, and Advisor to WhisperCash, formerly of the IMF and the Central Bank of Canada) and Maria Soledad Martinez Peria, Chief of the Macro-Financial Division of the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund. The closing panel of MENA Central Bank Governors was moderated by Ferid Belhaj (World Bank Vice President for MENA).

    Presentations

    Agenda

    Speaker Bios

     

Details

  • Organized by: Regional Research Network (RRN) of Central Banks in the MENAAP region and the World Bank MENAAP Chief Economist Office

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