WAIFEM regional course underway in Banjul

West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) has started a regional course on techniques of economic analysis, monetary policy and financial management underway in The Gambia.

The training started yesterday held at a local hotel in Senegambia and expected to end on Friday.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the director general of WAIFEM Dr. Baba Y. Musa explained that WAIFEM was established by the Central Bank of The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone in 1996. He added that the principal mandate of the institute is to strengthen capacity for improved macroeconomic and financial management in the constituent member countries.

“Since its commenced operations in 1997, the institute has successfully executed 6, 93 courses, workshop and seminars, and these have benefited 18, 556 participants from the sub-region and beyond,” he said.

He lamented that WAIFEM collaborates with a number of reputable institutions to ensure that its programmes comfort to international standard.  He said key among these institutions are the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, Commonwealth secretariat, Debt Relief International, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and more.

The institute has extended its operations to the private sector by establishing the business development and consultancy unit, he said, adding that the unit targets the private sector and the sub- region.

The representative of the Central Bank of The Gambia Essa AK Drammeh, second deputy governor expressed delight for Gambia hosting the training.

He highlighted that economic analysis seeks to isolate relationships of cause and effect in the economic by making generalizations about production, technology, and human behavior.

“The techniques often adopted for economic analysis are the building blocks for macroeconomic management. They are designed to sharpen the analytic skills of relevant technical staff of institutions and government agencies involved in economic management,” he added.

He explained that the current economic crises began from 1980s to 2007, have made it mandatory for institutions involved in economic management to build and strengthen their indigenous capacity for policy making and analysis.

“Recent reform measures in the Central Bank of The Gambia which is geared towards ensuring a sound, strong and stable financial system. It is only rational that these reforms be complemented with sustained capacity building to provide a ready manpower base that key into the bank’s agenda”.