Under the patronage of H.E. the Governor of the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), Fahad Almubarak, the 2nd Annual Central Bank Conference on Development Economics in the Middle East and North Africa was inaugurated in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on January 31, 2023. The inauguration ceremony was attended by the World Bank Vice President for Middle East and North Africa, Ferid Belhaj and a number of central banks' officials of participating countries.

On this occasion, the Deputy Governor for Research and International, Fahad Alshathri, delivered a welcoming speech on behalf of the Governor, in which he stressed the significance of the conference. Alshathri said in his speech that the conference, hosted by SAMA for the first time in Saudi Arabia, promotes academic research. He also added that the event encourages participation of economic entities from all over the MENA region in discussions around key issues facing the region's economic policymakers.

The topics covered by this year's conference are especially important as they include global economic developments particularly high inflation and its repercussions on the global economy and the MENA region specifically.

In the speech, the Deputy Governor also made reference to the initiatives launched by SAMA to support economic and financial research that aims to enhance the Saudi economy. Such initiatives go in line with the Kingdom's efforts to advance economic development and achieve Saudi Vision 2030 goals. Furthermore, Alshathri stressed the importance of promoting cooperation between economic policymakers and researchers from various regional and international entities to propose effective solutions for the most pressing economic challenges and issues.  

The theme of the conference this year is "Inflation Dynamics during Uncertain Times: the path toward stable and sustainable recovery". World Bank experts and senior economic researchers from various central banks, universities as well as international and local research centers will participate in the event to discuss different topics under this year's theme.

The organization of the conference comes as part of SAMA's ongoing efforts to support researches in the fields of economic, finance and development. Moreover, it aligns with SAMA's keenness to promote cooperation and communication with researchers and economists locally and internationally. The conference presents the latest important economic research, and it discusses suggested economic policies with aim of enhancing economic growth and stability.