59th SEACEN Governors’ Conference / High-Level Seminar and the 43rd Meeting of the SEACEN Board of Governors

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hosted the 59th SEACEN Governors’ Conference/High-Level Seminar and the 43rd Meeting of the SEACEN Board of Governors (BOG) on 15-16 February 2024 in Mumbai, India. The SEACEN community is pleased to have resumed its practice of meeting in person.

The recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2023 faced headwinds from a concerted interest rate hike cycle by systemically important countries, a global financial tightening, slowdown of external demand, bouts of higher inflation, elevated energy and food prices, high levels of non-financial corporate debt, strained public budgets, higher borrowing costs, and structural issues.

During the 59th Governors’ Conference/High-Level Seminar on 15 February 2024 with the theme “Navigating Economic Headwinds and Advancing Financial Inclusion: Perspectives and Challenges,” Governors and Managing Directors, as well as delegates from SEACEN member central banks and monetary authorities, acknowledged the environment of challenging trade-offs across different policy objectives using various sets of policy tools.

Following the welcome remarks by Mr. Mangal Goswami, Executive Director, The SEACEN Centre, and the special remarks by Mr. Shaktikanta Das, Governor, RBI, Mrs. Petya Koeva Brooks, Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Research Department, gave the first of two special addresses on “Insights on the Global and Emerging Markets Economic Outlook”.

This was followed by the first Governors’ Panel Discussion, moderated by Mrs. Petya Koeva Brooks on “The Drivers and Road to Achieving Inflation Targets – Challenges Ahead.” Partly driven by global – and more frequent – supply shocks as well as constraints in commodities flows across markets, inflation around the world reached multi-decade highs in 2023. The many challenges to effective policymaking continue to grow and now also included monetary-fiscal policy coordination and more varied central bank communication strategies. The panel for this session was comprised of Mr. Sachin Chaturvedi, Member of the Central Board, RBI; Mr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka; and Mr. Francisco G. Dakila, Jr., Deputy Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. A second special address was then delivered virtually by François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor, Banque de France, who presented his views on “Challenges Ahead on the Road to a 2 Percent Inflation Target.”

The second Governors’ Panel Discussion was moderated by Professor Kenneth Kletzer, University of California, Santa Cruz, and focused on “Challenges and Implications of Higher for Longer Interest Rates.” The present global shift to higher interest rates, largely induced by the strong and persistent inflationary forces discussed in the first session, has made the macro-financial environment more challenging. In addition to spillover risks emanating from domestic monetary policy to the domestic financial, fiscal, and real sectors, cross-country monetary spillovers in a highly integrated world have also become more important. The monitoring of global economic developments with a focus on the international exposure of the domestic economy, the build-up of buffers, robust risk management practices and clear and concise policy communication can be considered as ways to help central banks mitigate these spillovers. These and other related topics were discussed by Mr. Chang Yong RHEE, Governor, Bank of Korea; Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hong, Governor, State Bank of Vietnam; and Mr. Marzunisham Omar, Deputy Governor, Bank Negara Malaysia.

The third Governors’ Panel Discussion was on “Leaving No One Behind: The Role of Digital Public Infrastructure in Financial Inclusion,” moderated by Mr. Chia Der Jiun, Managing Director, Monetary Authority of Singapore. Despite rapid advances in the digitalization of payments and the payments infrastructure, around 1.4 billion people remain financially excluded, of which more than 50 percent is in seven (7) emerging and developing economies. A digital public infrastructure (DPI) can provide a core set of foundational systems that enable the provision of digital services to accelerate financial inclusion. Panelists on ways to leveraging DPI for advancing financial inclusion in the SEACEN community included Mrs. Chea Serey, Governor, National Bank of Cambodia (NBC); Mr. Maha Prasad Adhikari, Governor, Nepal Rastra Bank; and Mr. Rabi Sankar Tavarna, Deputy Governor, RBI. Both the Special Sessions as well as the Governors’ Panels were accompanied by lively discussions and questions from the floor. The High-Level Seminar was closed by Mr. Michael D. Patra, Deputy Governor, RBI.

During the 43rd Meeting of the BOG on 16 February 2024, the Governors approved the 2024 SEACEN financial budget, the training and research programs and other activities for 2024, two new strategic partners as well as the results of the organization’s scorecard. At the conclusion of the meeting, the members expressed their appreciation to the outgoing Chairpersons, Mr. Chea Chanto (former Governor) and Ms. Chea Serey, Governor of the NBC, for their strong leadership of the SEACEN BOG in 2023. The Governors welcomed Mr. Shaktikanta Das, Governor, RBI, as the new Chair of the SEACEN BOG, and thanked RBI for the excellent arrangements in hosting this year’s meeting of the SEACEN BOG.

In addition, the Governors accepted with appreciation the offer of the Bank of Korea to host the 60th SEACEN Governors’ Conference/High-Level Seminar and the 44th Meeting of the SEACEN BOG in 2024.