Central banks in Liberia and Nigeria should work together to promote trade between the two West African Countries, Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria said this week when he hosted his Liberian counterpart.
He said the CBN is working with the Bank of Sierra Leone in that direction.
The Nigerian Central Banker informed the delegation of progress that the CBN has made in working out modalities with some air and shipping lines for facilitating trade between Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Governor Tarlue thanked his Nigerian counterpart for the leadership role CBN continues to play in the sub-region for the achievement of the aspiration of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ). Executive Governor Tarlue underscored the good working relationship between His Excellency, Dr. George Manneh Weah, Sr. and His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The working visit was intended for the delegation to learn from the experience of CBN with regard to currency reform and management, including infusion, withdrawal and destruction of mutilated and old banknotes, as part of the currency replacement strategy of Liberia which is being implemented by CBL. During the visit, the delegation held an intensive and interactive session with senior officials of CBN, including Deputy Governor for Economic Policy, Dr. Kingsley Obiora, Deputy Governor for Operations, Mr. Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, and Madam Francisca Okonji, Deputy Director of the Currency Management Department.
The delegation was taken on a guided tour to the Nigerian Security, Printing & Minting Company (NSPMC), which is one of the four (4) state-owned printing and minting companies in Africa, which include South Africa, Algeria, and Egypt. The NSPMC was established since 1963, with De La Rue, a global currency printing company, as one of its shareholders.
At the same time, Governor Emefiele and Executive Governor Tarlue signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Technical Assistance & Capacity Building (TACB) between the CBN and CBL. The TACB covers a range of focus areas, including but not limited to, (1) Monetary Policy Operations, (2) Currency Management; (3) Statistical and Data Analysis; (4) Macroeconomic Forecasting & Policy Analysis; (5) Collaborative/Joint Research; and (6) AML/CFT and Cyber Security Training, among others.
The CBN authorities assured the CBL of their full commitment to share their currency management and operations experience with the CBL’s staff, and Executive Governor Tarlue, in his closing remarks, stressed the need for a speedy implementation of the TA program.
The working visit to Nigeria is one of the several planned visits by the CBL aimed at learning from the experiences of currency reforms by other central banks in the sub-region, according to the Bank’s emailed statement shared with journalists.
Liberia’s Central Bank Governor Aloysius Tarlue led a high-level CBL delegation to Abuja on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 for a one-day working visit.
Other member of the CBL delegation comprised of Nyemadi D. Pearson, Deputy Governor for Operations, Mr. Mussah A. Kamara, Senior Technical Advisor to the Executive Governor, Mr. William Jlopleh, Director of Banking, Mr. Bushanda C. George, Chief-of-Staff and Cllr. Joseph K. Jallah, Senior Legal Advisor to the Executive Governor.
