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In line with its continuous efforts to support the decision-making process in Arab countries, the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) has released the Fifteenth edition of the Arab Economic Outlook Report, including updated forecasts for growth and inflation in Arab Economies for 2021 and 2022.

The issue of promoting access to financing and financial services in the Arab countries is receiving great attention from the Council of Arab Central Banks and Monetary Authorities’ Governors, in recognition of the potential and great opportunities that can be achieved through enhancing financial inclusion to support inclusive and sustainable economic development, address unemployment challenges, and achieve social justice. There is no doubt that the current developments and the negative repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic have clearly highlighted the great importance of deploying Fintech for the purposes of financial inclusion, and the need to enhance digital financial services and familiarize users with them. The pandemic has increased the demand for digital financial services and made the need to accelerated digital transformation and improved digital financial services a critical issue in economic policies in the Arab region.

Abu Dhabi, 14 October 2021: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) holds today, Thursday October 14, 2021, a workshop to elaborate on Buna’s (the cross-border payment system owned by the AMF) different initiatives to push the frontiers of cross-border payments and improve interoperability models in collaboration with operators of payment networks and market infrastructures.

During this workshop, guest speakers representing, the Bank of Italy, Visa and the Pan African Payment and Settlement system (PAPSS) will share their different experiences with Buna, and their views on the added value that strategic framework of cooperation between payment systems can bring to enhance cross-border payments across the globe.

The workshop will host more than 200 senior officials representing central banks, along with various institutions from the financial, banking and payment sectors in the region and beyond, seeking valuable information on Buna’s recent plans and developments.

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) issued today Monday 6 December, 2021, a paper on “Open finance: A framework for the Arab region is more than a question of scope”, summarizing the results of a collaborative study conducted by the Arab Regional Fintech Working Group (WG), which AMF acts as the technical secretariat of the group’ and the MENA Fintech Association. The paper is issued under the framework of the Fund's endeavours to promote awareness of the requirements for developing banking and financial industry, while supporting digital financial transformation efforts in Arab countries.

The paper aims to craft the transition from open banking to open finance, beginning from the areas adjacent to payment accounts and covering the whole financial services, highlighting the needs for additional considerations to accommodate the cross-sector functionality of open finance, and providing insightful answers on how open banking can  improve the efficiency of a border financial ecosystem and  support digital financial inclusion in the region.