Closing address by Governor Mr Loi M. Bakani, CMG at the SEACEN COURSE on Macroprudential Policy (Joint with Macroeconomics & Monetary Policy Management) Alotau, Papua New Guinea 26 August 2016

 CLOSING ADDRESS

by

GOVERNOR MR LOI M. BAKANI, CMG

At the

SEACEN COURSE ON MACROPRUDENTIAL POLICY

(JOINT WITH MACROECONOMICS & MONETARY POLICY MANAGEMENT)

ALOTAU, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

26 AUGUST 2016

• Dignitaries:

o   Mr. Michael Zamorski, Director, Financial Stability & Supervision, Payments & Settlements Systems, The SEACEN Centre

o   Mark Mckenzie, Senior Analyst, The SEACEN Centre

o   Resource Persons

o   Participants.

As the saying goes….”All good things must come to an end”. You have come to the end of the Course on Macroprudential Policy (jointly with Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy Management).

I sincerely hope this one week has provided a fruitful forum for you, as each one of our jurisdiction embark on implementing this complex but yet necessary international policy agenda.

Since there is not much history to learn from in terms of the implementation of macroprudential policy, each other experiences maybe the best next option and I hope this week has provided you with some useful takeaways.

I understand that there have been a lot of discussions and interactions generated among yourselves during the week. The challenge now is to maintain the network and dialogue. I personally believe in the importance of discussions and establishing networks among the Regulators. Firstly, to share the country experiences on what works well in one country and what does not in another. Secondly, to share the different ways and approaches of detecting and measuring systemic risks and so forth. And most importantly because the establishment of Macroprudential Policy governance framework is at varying stages from country to country – some jurisdiction have advanced in establishing their systems while others are still at initial stages.

Additionally, I believe that there is no “one size fits all” and therefore let’s continue to appreciate the importance of future research into the topic of Macroeconomic Policy and to better understand the local dynamics in any given jurisdiction while taking into account the global interconnectedness. I think this is critical for any country when it considers the kind of institutional arrangement which works, before it can adopt it.

It is my view that going forward, like other policy frameworks which have been well established in the Central Banks or Monetary Authorities such as microprudential supervision and monetary policy frameworks, that Macroprudential Policy will demand more of our attention in the future. Regulators will therefore need to continue to invest into it by ensuring appropriate institutional arrangements and instruments/tools are established, and that staffs are adequately trained to be able to implement these initiatives. This week’s event is a very good example.

I understand Bank of Indonesia presented their experience in implementing Macroprudential Policy during the week and I think their experience should be a useful takeaway because of the similarities of our economics.

If learning from each other’s experiences would be the way forward then our regional research centre – SEACEN should be utilized for research and collating of cross country experience with increased frequency.

One of your sessions this week also allowed the findings of one collaborative research of SEACEN member countries on counter cyclical capital buffers to be presented, led by an eminent expert in Dr. Saurabh Ghosh from the Bank of India. I hope there were useful takeaways also from this work and I am happy to advocate more collaborative work among our countries on this policy, as well as others.

At this juncture, I would now like to thank the SEACEN Centre and SEACEN facilitators for staging this course in PNG, and for agreeing to our proposal to have it conducted in beautiful Alotau. I also extend my appreciation to the facilitators from outside of the SEACEN Centre – for sharing your research work and wealth of experiences with our participants. I understand some of them have left during the week.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our MPP participants from SEACEN member counties all the very best for the future. Please extend my sincere thanks to your Governors or MDs (for Monetary Authorities) for allowing you to attend this MPP course.

The Bank of Papua New Guinea is pleased to have been given the opportunity to host this course and we hope you will not only take away the professional insights from this course, but increased your network within regional central banks and a beautiful memory of this part of our country. Now you can claim you have been to PNG, as you now have a good idea of what our country can provide and offer you.

I wish you safe journey back to your home countries.

I will not say “Aioni – Good-bye”, but say “Goodie”, because you need to come back and visit PNG again.

Thank you for listening.