caroline abel : closing remarks - incoming chairperson of the african financial inclusion policy initiative vote of thanks and closing remarks by ms caroline abel, governor of central bank of seychelles, at the 10th african financial inclusion policy initiative ( afpi ) meetings and leaders roundtable, arusha, 23 june 2022. * * * professor florens luoga, outgoing chairperson and governor of the bank of tanzania ; dr. alfred hannig, executive director of the alliance for financial inclusion ; governors and deputy governors ; ladies and gentleman ; good afternoon. i am honoured to address you once again as we end this year's afpi leaders roundtable, which concludes four days of intensive, engaging and fruitful discussions on a subject deemed important for our respective countries and the region. financial inclusion - more importantly, digital financial inclusion - as a key driver of economic growth and stability cannot be overemphasised. and i am sure that the engagements throughout this week have reaffirmed our resolve and increased our commitment to pursue this objective. while the digitalisation of our economies was already underway, the nature of the covid - 19 pandemic has undoubtedly propelled the acceleration of our digital transformation efforts, finding some of us ready for this new reality and signalling a reality check for others. over the past four days, we have had the opportunity to take stock of the progress made and identify further actions needed to achieve our objectives amidst an everevolving financial landscape and economic environment. it has been refreshing to learn about what is happening across the continent – from the innovative regulatory and supervisory solutions to the electronic kyc and digital identity innovations that some of our members are implementing to advance financial inclusion. i am aware that links have been established amongst members present for further peer learning going forward, as we have drawn inspiration from the success stories that have been shared, of how the digital transformation is creating opportunities and bringing numerous benefits for the various groups within our economies. these endeavours surely present us with the opportunity to renew our commitment to work on overcoming the challenges and barriers that still exist to ensure that no one is left behind. we have had prolonged discussions on numerous topics, but i believe we can all agree that a key takeaway is that it is not enough to simply make digital financial services and products available. they need to be convenient, fast, affordable, reliable and safe. they 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches need to be tailored to meet the needs of the various segments of our society, from individuals

caroline abel : dissemination of provisional results a€ “ national bank of seychelles'population & housing census 2022 opening remarks by ms caroline abel, governor of central bank of seychelles, at the dissemination of the provisional results of the population and housing census 2022, eden island, 31 august 2022. * * * honourable leader of government business in the national assembly, honourable leader of the opposition, principal secretaries, chief executive officers, representatives of the roman catholic and anglican dioceses, representatives of the civil society, district administrators, members of the media, census commissioner, staff of the national bureau of statistics, ladies and gentlemen, a very good morning to you all. i am honoured, as the chairperson of the board of directors of the national bureau of statistics ( nbs ), to welcome you all to today's event - the dissemination of the provisional results of the recently - conducted population and housing census. detailed data collected across a wide range of statistical areas related to population and housing, allows for disaggregation by geographic areas, for example districts and sub - districts, as well as small population groups. given that the census provides fundamental information for monitoring the progress of a country and its people over intervals, timely dissemination of good quality census data is crucial for planning, policy formulation, reporting and monitoring of targets at the national, regional and international levels. notably, information from the census serves to monitor our progress on the various goals and targets of the united nations 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the african union agenda 2063. prior to the most recent exercise, the last population and housing census was carried out in 2010, with the next exercise due in 2020. however, the realities of the covid - 19 pandemic meant that the 2020 census had to be put on hold, in adherence to the public health measures that were in place. despite the challenges, the pandemic presented opportunities for the development and use of alternative approaches and technology to improve on data collection and quality. in the 2020 round of population and housing censuses, all african countries which have taken or are developing their censuses are moving away from the paper - based approach towards a digital approach to data collection. at this juncture, i would like to commend the census commissioner and the leadership of the nbs for adopting digital technology in the form of electronic data collection through computer assisted personal 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches interview ( capi ) using tablets, to carry out the first - ever digital