ABU DHABI, UAE – The UAE recently participated in the fifth International Financial Architecture (IFA) Working Group meeting within the G20 Finance Track for 2022, which was held in a hybrid format.
The meeting which was held on September 22 and 23 in Indonesia discussed issues related to global financial development and stability.
It discussed the global financial resilience, safety net and capital flows.
It sought to deliberate key issues related to global financial risks and opportunities.
Asma Al Zarooni, Head of Exchange of Tax Information Section at the Ministry of Finance, and Khalifa Al Faheem, Director Monetary Operations at Central Bank of the UAE, participated in the meeting.
The others who participated were the G20 members, invited countries, representatives from international organizations including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The UAE team reviewed the country’s key financial stability components and developments.
The team also stressed on the need to work on a comprehensive regulatory framework for central digital currencies that would facilitate, accelerate and reduce the cost of cross-border monetary operations, in addition to previewing the UAE’s experience in the “mBridge” project for building multi central bank digital currencies (CBDC).
The UAE team spoke on the key role played by the issuance of local currency bonds (T-bonds) in light of the continued rise in global debt and the need to enhance the monetary sustainability of low-income countries.
The meeting previewed the latest updates on global development finance and sovereign debt related issues.
The attendees discussed central bank digital currencies for cross-border payment and implication on the international monetary system and capital flows.
They also deliberated the expected benefits of local currency bond markets and the multicurrency settlements in international trade and finance agreements.
They discussed potential cooperation opportunities among international organizations regarding capital flows, as well as ways to improve debt transparency and information sharing including the current stock-taking exercise on debt transparency shared with the IMF and the World Bank.
The newly developed capital adequacy framework assessment and next steps to achieve tangible progress were also deliberated during the meeting.
The members and representatives from international organizations agreed to present the group’s contribution during the upcoming G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in October 2022.
They agreed to continue the discussion based on the latest global financial developments, in preparation for India’s forthcoming G20 Presidency in 2023.