Integration along the Abuja road map: A progress report
November 01, 2018
On 10 June 2019, the National Bank of Rwanda organized a research day on the theme "Towards new strategies for regional and domestic monetary policies".
Jaime de Melo, Senior Fellow at FERDI, spoke on the Continental Free Trade Area for Africa (AfCFTA) and the Common External Tariff (CET) assessments of the East African Community (EAC). For the AfCFTA, he advocated for a concentration of resources towards the provision of regional public goods. Its review of ECA's integration assessments expresses concern about the likely consequences of the ongoing negotiations on a change in the Common External Tariff (CET).
9:00-9:20 | Welcoming remarks (Hon. Governor, National Bank of Rwanda - BNR)
9:20-9:50 | Keynote address: Strategies for Regional Integration: Regional Public Goods are key to a successful AFCFTA - Jaime de Melo (IGC, FERDI and University of Geneva)
Session 1: Regional monetary policy
9:50-10:20 | Paper 1: EAC Monetary Union: ready or not? – Prof. Thomas Kigabo (BNR)
10:20-10:50 | Paper 2: Examining the Impact of the Common External Tariff of the East African Community in Rwanda – Garth Frazer (University of Toronto), Presented by Anna Twum (IGC)
11:10 -11:40 | Paper 3: Reform of the EAC Common External Tariff: Evidence from trade costs - Jaime de Melo (IGC, FERDI and University of Geneva)
11:40-12:10 | Paper 4: The consequences of Brexit for Africa: The case of the East African Community - Andrew Mold (UNECA)
12:10-13:10 | Lunch break
Session 2: Domestic monetary policy
13:10-13:30 | Paper 5: Moving from monetary targeting framework to price based monetary policy: The experience of the National Bank of Rwanda – Prof. Thomas Kigabo (BNR)
13:30-13:50 | Paper 6: Bank lending channel of monetary policy transmission in Rwanda: Evidence from bank-level data – Christian Nyalihama (BNR)
13:50-14:10 | Paper 7: Exchange rate pass-through to consumer prices in Rwanda – Patrick Hitayezu (BNR)
Session 3: Domestic growth and trade
14:10-14:30 | Paper 8: Estimates of District GDP – Paul Brimble (MINECOFIN)
14:30-14:50 | Paper 9: Economic Geography of Rwanda’s Cities - Anirudh Rajashekar (IGC)
14:50-15:00 | Closing remarks
