expo 2020 dubai women on boards key issues and challenges in the mena region speech of mr. abdellatif jouahri governor of bank al - maghrib ( moroccan central bank ) november 14, 2021 expo 2020 dubai women on boards key issues and challenges in the mena region speech of mr. abdellatif jouahri governor of bank al - maghrib ( moroccan central bank ) your excellency, mrs. shamsa saleh, ceo of dubai women establishment ( dwe ) and secretary - general of the uae gender balance council ; mrs. nadia fettah, minister of economy and finance and commissioner general of morocco pavilion at “ expo 2020 dubai ” ; honorable audience, it is a great pleasure for me to take part with you today in this important meeting at “ expo 2020 dubai ”. i really wished to be there with you in this country where i always feel at home. unfortunately, multiple constraints have made it impossible for me. however, i would like to compliment the emirati authorities for the exceptional organization of this event. the everyday echoes of the expo tell a story of a tremendous success. i am also delighted as the topic chosen for this meeting is particularly close to my heart and i congratulate the organizers for such relevant choice. i would like to particularly thank mrs. amina figuigui and mrs. nadia fettah, respectively president and vice president of the club of women business administrators ( cfa morocco ), for inviting me to this meeting. ladies and gentlemen, the topic of this meeting centered on the place of women in governing bodies refers inevitably to the challenges of women contribution to economic activity and more broadly to the issue of gender inequality. in this respect, i think there is no need to argue nor to justify the importance of this issue. it is discussed and debated every now and then in public debates within national and international bodies, not to mention the regular or specific reports devoted to it. this increasingly highlights the stakes involved and, fortunately, the greater awareness about it. it is not only a problem of social exclusion but, as we all know, a considerable economic loss. the available data on the different dimensions of this issue unfortunately show that our region mena appears to have among the highest levels of gender inequality, if not the highest, in the world. however, i believe that there is a growing awareness about the situation. we have seen in recent years the adoption of policies and initiatives in the region to empower women and

conduct sound economic policies and accumulate adequate reserves. this leads to the paradoxical situation that unconventional measures applied in a crisis might lower the incentive to maintain preventive measures during normal times. in turn this increases the likelihood that unconventional measures will be needed again in the future, i. e. crisis resolution might tradeoff with crisis prevention. these moral hazard considerations are a well - known problem whenever insurance is provided in a context of asymmetric information. their negative effects can be mitigated to a certain extent. for instance, appropriate pricing of foreign currency liquidity provision can limit its function to that of an emergency backstop facility which is costly for banks to use. additionally, the framework has to be in line with global economic objectives, such as price stability, balanced growth and efficient international allocation of resources. • policies that preserve price stability in the long term should also ensure stability of the financial system. however, in short term these two objectives might appear to conflict. even when liquidity in domestic currency is provided to another country, it might find its way back to the domestic economy and contribute to inflationary pressure, if not sterilised. • a buildup of national reserves might itself contribute to systemic instability. a reserve framework requires stability of the reserve currency in order to act as a global store of value and an anchor for price stability. however, the triffin - dilemma notes that the accumulation of reserves implies persistent current account deficits of the reserve - issuing country. this potentially creates instability and fuels global imbalances. moreover, such a reserve system aggravates interdependence between the reserve accumulating countries and the reserve - issuing country. for instance, the us treasury market relies largely on demand from emerging market central banks. this dependence is likely to increase as the federal reserve phases out its asset purchase program, reducing us demand. • this is connected to potential negative side effects of reserve accumulation or intervention in foreign exchange markets. in consequence, it can distort exchange rates and prices of other assets and might be difficult if not impossible to disentangle from its benefits. • finally, an acceptable solution from the country perspective might not appear desirable from the global perspective. for instance, excessive accumulation of foreign exchange reserves might distort international capital allocation. this leads me to the general conclusion that there are many practical obstacles to a first - best solution for foreign exchange reserve provisioning. ultimately, i will conclude with some considerations on the challenges facing the global framework for