London-based financial and international affairs magazine “The Banker,” named Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) Governor Abdellatif Jouahri “Best Central Banker in Africa for 2024” on Tuesday.
The Central Banker of the Year 2024 award recognizes individuals who have done the most to boost development and stabilize their economies.
For more than 20 years, Abdellatif Jouahri has served as governor of Morocco’s Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), guiding the country’s banking industry and wider economy through a period of exceptional growth.
Within days after Morocco’s September earthquake, BAM contributed 1 billion MAD ($98 million) to the country’s major relief fund for earthquake victim relocation, and was swift to give assistance to sectors of the economy most affected by the catastrophe. To support relief and recovery operations, the bank also launched free helplines to assist with money transfers and remittances.
Jouahri received the award for BAM’s assistance in relief operations following the September earthquake and the bank’s performance in combating inflation.
BAM was one of the first major African central banks to hold rates steady in 2023 after raising its benchmark interest rate to 3% in March, allowing the impact of rate increases to work their way through the economy. Following a small increase in August, the bank maintained its hold, validated later as inflation dropped to 4.3% in October from a peak of 10.1% in February, 2023, according to the journal.
“At a time of intensified political tensions, the protracted inflationary trends around the world are a further concern for central banks,” Jouahri said then. “They are therefore called upon to optimize their monetary policy decisions to safeguard the purchasing power of citizens, especially the most underprivileged among them, and improve investor confidence in the future of their companies.”
Another highlight of the year, according to the magazine, was the June debut of the immediate interbank transfer in partnership with the Groupement pour le Système Interbancaire Marocain de Télécompensation.
In addition to Jouahri, “The Banker” ranked Ukrainian banker Andriy Pyshnyi as “Best Banker Globally and in Europe; Mexican banker Victoria Rodriguez Ceja as “Best Banker of the year in the Americas,” Korean banker Rhee Chang-Yong in the Asia-Pacific area, and Emirati banker Khaled Mohamed Balama in the Middle East.