News

The AMF extends a new loan to the Kingdom of Morocco, with an amount of Arab Accounting Dinar 69.501 million, the equivalent of approximately USD 277 million, within the framework of the Structural Adjustment Facility in the Financial and Banking Sector

The AMF extended a new loan to the Kingdom of Morocco, with the amount of Arab Accounting Dinar 69.501 million, the equivalent of approximately USD 277 million, within the framework of the Structural Adjustment Facility in the Financial and Banking Sector. The agreement was signed on Friday, March 17, 2023, by HE Nadia Fettah, Minister of Economy and Finance, on behalf of the Kingdom of Morocco, and HE Dr. Abdulrahman A.

On this occasion, her Excellency the Moroccan Minister of Economy and Finance expressed her appreciation for the support provided by the AMF and the important role it plays in strengthening the ability of Arab countries to maintain economic stability and face different challenges. In turn, his Excellency the Director General of the AMF valued the efforts pursued by the Kingdom of Morocco to implement economic and structural reform programs, which largely contribute to improving the outlook for its credit rating by rating agencies, stressing the AMF keenness to continue the fruitful partnership with the Moroccan government to help the country address the different challenges in the most effective way.

The program supported by the aforementioned loan includes a number of pillars: strengthening the system of control and supervision of the financial and banking sector, promoting sustainable financing, enhancing financial inclusion, promoting financial innovation, and developing the legal framework governing the capital market.

Successful launch of cross-border payments of Iraqi pensioners’ salaries using “Buna” First transaction in Jordanian Dinar

The launch reaffirms Buna’s role in strengthening Arab economic ties and enhancing the experience of Iraqi pensioners residing in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in receiving their salaries.
Buna aligns with the agenda of the Group of Twenty (G20) to improve cross-border payments.
Payments processed via Buna are characterized by efficiency, security, and lower cost.

Abu Dhabi, April 12, 2023: Buna, the cross-border payment system operated by Arab Regional Payments Clearing and Settlement Organization “ARPCSO”, owned by the Arab Monetary Fund, announced the success of the first cross-border payment for the pensions of Iraqi retirees residing in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The transaction also represented the first transfer In Jordanian dinars utilizing the Buna system.

Arab Monetary Fund issues a study on " Assessing the Association between the Global Carbon Futures Index and the Stock Markets' Return and Volatility in Selected Arab Countries"

The study discusses:

 

Reducing Emissions through Carbon Certificates Trading Innovation

Carbon Trading: A Key Strategy for Climate Change Goals

Arab Monetary Fund has released on Monday 27th of March 2023, a study titled "Assessing the association between the global carbon futures index and equity returns and volatility in selected Arab countries". The study aims to investigate the connection between the Global Carbon Futures Index (GCFI), stock returns, and volatility in four Arab stock exchanges: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, by analyzing daily data between February 1, 2017, and October 30, 2022, using the generalized autoregressive conditional heterogeneity model (GARCH).

 

Arab Monetary Fund releases jointly with partners’ organizations, Regional Financing Arrangements (RFAs), a study on “Global efforts to fight the consequences of climate change: the role of Regional Financing Arrangements.”

The Arab Monetary Fund released jointly with partners’ organizations, Regional Financing Arrangements (RFAs), a study on “Global efforts to fight the consequences of climate change: the role of Regional Financing Arrangements”. This study provides an overview of steps taken by (RFAs) to incorporate climate considerations into their activities, covering the areas of economic monitoring, lending, capacity building, and internal policies and operations.

It aims to deepen the RFAs’ understanding of how their regional peers are approaching the emerging policy issue of climate change, and to stimulate collective reflections on how best to support members’ efforts to foster a more sustainable and resilient future.

 

The RFAs who participated in the study are: Arab Monetary Fund (AMF); the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), which is the macroeconomic surveillance unit of the ASEAN+3 region; the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD); the European Union’s Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA), which is managed by the European Commission; the European Stability Mechanism (ESM); and the Latin American Reserve Fund (FLAR).

 

The study is available on this link

The Arab Monetary Fund publishes a Guidance Note on “Sovereign Sustainable Instruments” for the Arab region

Provide clear definitions for ESG terms and activities at the national level

Maintain a coordinated approach in designing sustainable finance plans

Debt managers assess readiness factors for Sovereign Sustainable Instruments

Raise public awareness and capacity development across government entities

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) in cooperation with World Bank Group, and The Gulf Capital Market Association has issued today March 16th 2023, a Guidance Note on “Sovereign Sustainable Instruments for the Arab region”. The note is issued under the framework of the Fund's endeavours to promote awareness of the requirements for developing the green and sustainable agenda in the Arab region.

The guidance note aims to promote awareness of ESG investing in the sovereign debt asset class and how it pertains to sovereign issuers in the Arab region.  It also provides regional policymakers with an insight into these key developments, to help promote a supportive ecosphere for sustainable finance including the local capital markets and banking sectors.

Buna holds its 40th virtual workshop

The workshop aims to promote strong risk and compliance awareness within the payment ecosystem with high-level guest speakers from the U.S. Treasury and the European Central Bank

The workshop will also dive in the approaches of the banks to maximize the value added through their adaption to Buna with leading banks from the UAE

Abu Dhabi, March 9th, 2023: Buna (the cross-border payment system operated by Arab Regional Payments Clearing and Settlement Organization “ARPCSO”, owned by The Arab Monetary Fund “AMF”), will hold, on Thursday March 9th, its monthly virtual workshop number 40 to promote strong risk and compliance awareness within its ecosystem and detail the Buna compliance framework.

Buna is committed to propagating strong compliance awareness and the workshop will highlight the need to ingrain a culture of compliance in the payment ecosystem.  As such, the workshop will also host high-level guest speakers representing the U.S Treasury and the European Central Bank who will share valuable insights and trends and expand on the topic of financial crime in cross-border payments ecosystem. A Buna executive will also detail the compliance framework used in Buna that further strengthens the commitment to achieving key objectives by following the necessary conformity and security standards. 

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) extends a new Compensatory Loan to the Kingdom of Morocco, with an amount of Arab Accounting Dinar 41.125 million, the equivalent of approximately USD 166 million, in face of current circumstances

The AMF has completed the launch of “Buna Platform” which aims to support regional financial integration and encourage inter-Arab trade and investments

The AMF extended a new Compensatory Loan to the Kingdom of Morocco, with the amount of Arab Accounting Dinar 41.125 million, the equivalent of approximately USD 166 million. The agreement was signed on Wednesday, January 11, 2023, by HE Nadia Fettah, Minister of Economy and Finance, on behalf of the Kingdom of Morocco, and HE Dr. Abdulrahman A. Al Hamidy, Director General Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the AMF, on behalf of the AMF, with the aim to provide financial support to strengthen the country’s financial position and meet emergency needs. The loan was disbursed on Thursday, February 2, 2023

Buna holds its 39th virtual workshop

The workshop will showcase Buna’s contribution to regional economic integration and detail the mechanisms put in place by the central banks to ensure the safety and resiliency of the service

Abu Dhabi, January 19th, 2023: Buna (the cross-border payment system operated by Arab Regional Payments Clearing and Settlement Organization “ARPCSO”, owned by The Arab Monetary Fund “AMF”), holds today, Thursday January 19th, its monthly virtual workshop number 39 to showcase Buna’s contribution to regional economic integration and detail the mechanisms put in place by the central banks to ensure the safety and resiliency of the service.

Arab Monetary Fund releases a study on: Is Climate FinTech Effective in Mitigating Climate Change Risk?

The study aims to investigate the cause-and-effect relationship between the FinTech index and carbon dioxide emissions index globally.

In line with its continuous efforts to support the decision-making process in the Arab countries, the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) has released a study titled “Is Climate FinTech Effective in Mitigating Climate Change Risk?”.

Global climate change and global warming are typically attributed to human activity, especially after the industrial revolution. There is a growing consensus among climate scientists that Climate FinTech provides great potential to protect the environment and mitigate climate change risks. In this paper, we investigate the cause-and-effect relationship between the FinTech index and carbon dioxide emissions index globally. In doing so, Granger causality test and Wavelet coherence analysis are employed to evaluate this association using daily frequency data over a period of 30 June 2015 to 31 December 2021.

The Arab Monetary Fund and the Arab Gulf Programme for Development sign a memorandum of understanding to coordinate efforts to promote financial inclusion

The Arab Monetary Fund and the Arab Gulf Programme for Development sign a memorandum of understanding to coordinate efforts to promote economic development and achieve sustainable development goals in the Arab region via expanding financial inclusion
Emphasis on supporting the successful implementation of the comprehensive economic reform program signed between the Arab Monetary Fund and the Government of Yemen

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and The Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND) signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, December 28, to promote economic development and achieve sustainable development goals in the Arab region through boosting financial inclusion and enhancing the role of the financial inclusion. The MOU will focus on supporting micro, small and medium-sized agricultural projects, and digital financial transformation, which contributes to accelerating the economic growth and creating job opportunities in the region, in addition to supporting legislations and supervisions of the financial systems including microfinance.