Keynote Address by Ms Caroline Abel
Governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles at the
Launch of the Financial Markets Index
12 April 2018
Venue: Eden Bleu Hotel
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentleman,
Good afternoon.
It is an honour and indeed, a great pleasure for me to be afforded the opportunity to
address this forum, which is launching the Barclays Africa Group Financial Markets
Index 2017.
The development of financial markets is of the utmost importance for the development
of the economy. I am not the first to make this statement, nor will I be the last. It is a
fact that cannot be over-emphasised, as a stable and well developed financial market
is a key part of the foundation for a healthy economy.
The Index that is being launched today, provides us with a good analysis of the state
of affairs of the financial markets in Africa. Most importantly for Seychelles, it provides
us with a marker of where we are and the areas which we need to focus on in order to
increase the level and efficiency of our financial market.
Out of the 17 African countries that feature in this Index, Seychelles has scored 22 out
of a possible 100 across the pillars that were assessed, with an overall ranking of 16.
The question we need to ask ourselves is this: how can we get the Seychelles
economy to mature and strive for continued improvement in our financial market?
The indication of the way forward is clear. As per the analysis, we need to improve on
the depth and breadth of our financial market, increase our access to foreign exchange
and bring our regulatory environment on par with international norms.
However, the challenge is to get on that path and stay the course. Small economies
like ours do not necessarily have big opportunities for trade in financial assets and
what little opportunities we have, there is a lack of diversity of assets that are traded.
Nevertheless, our placement on the Index is one that should spur us to move forward.
With the recent developments in our financial sector, combined with our efforts in
improving transparency and developing tighter and sounder regulations, I firmly
believe that there is much hope for the development of the financial market in
Seychelles, which will allow us to contribute towards the greater development of not
just our own economy, but also the economy of the African continent.
One area that we are already working on is the development of the foreign exchange
market. I anticipate that the 2-day workshop currently underway on Foreign Exchange
Trading, being facilitated by Barclays Bank Seychelles with the participation of the
local banks and the Central Bank, will mark a milestone in the development of the
foreign exchange market in Seychelles and that we will see an improvement of the
interbank market in foreign exchange, as well as the introduction of new foreign
exchange-denominated products, as we align ourselves with the target of improving
access to foreign exchange. To the participants, I would say let us make the most of
this exposure.
today's forum and I look forward to
I would like to reiterate my pleasure for being at
the fruitful deliberations that are to follow. I now declare the Official Launch of the
Africa Financial Markets Index Research in Seychelles.
Thank you.