a budgetary effort of around 6 percent of gdp, we still struggle to put our education system on track to provide the skills adequate for the labor market and to develop research and innovation. amid an increasingly competitive world, constantly reshaped by deep - seated changes which alter the classical paradigms, investing in research and innovation is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. it is the path towards achieving the rapid and sustainable growth africa needs to meet the aspirations of its population, especially the youth. it is also the only alternative to prevent the divide with the advanced countries from widening further. in areas such as economy and finance, there is a huge need for cutting - edge research that takes into account the specificities of africa. no one can deny the laudable initiatives and projects focusing on africa, such as the one carried out between 2007 and 2014 by the u. s national bureau of economic research ( nber ), nor the establishment, within prestigious universities, of centers dedicated to africa. however, the continent should enhance its own skills and develop its national capacities. central banks are particularly aware of this challenge. monetary policy decision - making requires a thorough understanding of the economy and its performance drivers. to this end, we need to build up models which draw on the most recent advances in economics, while taking into account our realities, oftentimes different from those of advanced countries. as such, we are facing two major challenges. the first one is related to the lack of knowledge as to the mechanisms underlying the functioning of our economies, on which we can capitalize. we therefore called upon to develop our own formalization of the economy from scratch. the second challenge is that economic modeling requires reliable and regular data. this entails significant financial and human resources that are sorely lacking in statistical institutes in several countries. in this respect, i think that central banks, owing to their autonomy, can play an important role in research development and have a ripple effect on its ecosystem. this is exactly what we are trying to do in bank al - maghrib. in fact, we have always put research and human capacity building at the core of our strategic plans. thus, alongside the various operational entities, we have set up since 2007 a division dedicated to research, whose task is to reflect on all strategic matters and issues related to the bank's missions. several cooperation programs were developed with the national and international academia, as well as with many central banks around the world. more particularly, we have launched

are ongoing within central banks and international bodies such as the financial stability board and the network for greening the financial system ( ngfs ), which brings together over a hundred central banks and financial supervisors. ladies and gentlemen, 2 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches at bank al - maghrib, we have been involved in these national and global efforts to combat climate change and its impacts for several years. in 2016, on the sidelines of cop22 held in marrakech, the bank rallied regulators and stakeholders in the national financial sector around a roadmap on sustainable finance. in the same vein, bank al maghrib is working alongside the ministry of finance and other financial regulators to draw up a strategy for financing the fight against climate change. this should make it possible to assess the green financing gap and identify measures and mechanisms to enable the national financial sector, as well as foreign financial institutions, to amplify their contribution to green and climate finance. it will be supported by the adoption of a green finance taxonomies, necessary to channel financial flows and prevent " green washing ". regarding banking regulation, bank al - maghrib issued in 2021 a directive on the management of financial risks related to climate change and the environment. to assist banks in its deployment, bank al - maghrib, with the support of the world bank, has carried out an assessment of the banking sector's exposure to physical and transitional climate risks, as well as an analysis of climate shock scenarios. bank al - maghrib is currently working on new regulatory guidelines to provide banks with guidance on the data to be collected as well as the indicators and metrics to be put in place to measure climate - related risks emanating from major borrowers and to assess the green and sustainable portion of their portfolios. they also aim to transpose international sustainability transparency standards to enhance market discipline within the banking sector. in terms of managing its foreign exchange reserves, bank al - maghrib incorporates the principle of sustainability into its investment guidelines, by promoting sustainable and responsible investments. as of 2016, at cop22 hosted in marrakech, the bank invested $ 100 million in green bonds issued by the world bank. more recently, in 2023, it made a similar investment of 200 million dollars. its investments in green, social and sustainable bonds currently account for 7 percent of foreign exchange reserves, with a long - term target of 10 percent. bank al - maghrib strengthened its commitment to the