Gambia's Central Bank Launches D20 Banknote to Mark 20 Year Coup Anniversary

Statement:

The new D20 banknote is an improved version of the D25 but maintains the colour of the D10 (green) which is the party colour of Jammeh's ruling APRC. (Photo Credit: CBG)

Sub-regional course to enhance financial intelligence operations

A five days training on ‘financial analysis techniques for Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) and their partner agencies from The Gambia and Sierra Leone’ will further enhance the operational capacity of FIUs, the organisers say.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, says the June 30-July 4 course will foster synergies with key partner agencies in The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Ghana – which made up the course participants.

“FIUs are a key player when it comes to anti-money laundering and counter-financing terrorism, AML/CFT, as they form the link between both components,” Ludovic D’HOORE of UNODC says on Monday at an international hotel in Banjul, the Gambian capital.

Gambia: Central bank takes ‘full control’ of Nigerian-owned commercial banks

The CBG raised from D150 to D200 million, the minimum capital requirement for commercial banks operating in The Gambia. It is not clear if the two banks have fallen short of this regulation. Photo taken from Gambia.com

The Central Bank of The Gambia, CBG, Monday “take full control” of two Nigerian-owned commercial banks, Access (Gambia) Ltd and Keystone (Gambia) Ltd.

 

CBG announced it has exclusive powers to manage and control the two banks to ensure that they “operate in a safe and sound manner” but it did not make clear the reason behind the move.

The May 5 decision was taken under the Banking Act 2009, according to the CBG which states it wants “to safeguard the financial system in particular and the economy in general.”

It stated: “The two banks would continue business as usual, and depositors are assured that the banks have ample liquidity to meet current and future obligations.”

IMF says Gambia’s policy implementation gone off-track

Projections of The Gambia’s economic growth are usually not representative of citizens’ socioeconomic status.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has on April 7 stated The Gambia’s implementation of [financial] policies during the first quarter of 2014 has “gone off-track”.

“[This is] mainly because spending significantly exceeded agreed targets following completion of the first review in May 2013,” it says after assessing the authorities’ progress in implementing [monetary] policies to bring their reform programme back on track.

Gambia’s reform programme is supported by an IMF Extended Credit Facility arrangement.

The Gambia: Slight decline in bank reserves

Platinum Habib Bank, now Keystone Bank, is one of 10 commercial banks competing in a relatively small market in The Gambia (Photo Credit: M.S.Joof/TNBES/August2011)

Gambia records massive drop in foreign aid in 2013

In 2010, the EU cut 22 million euros of budget support (aid) to The Gambia over human rights concerns.

The Gambia forcast economic growth at 7.5 per cent

Projection based on robust expansion of agriculture and tourism, according to Central Bank officials in Gambia. (Photo by Mansa Banko shows officials at a rice field in Central River Region of The Gambia under the Ifad-funded PIWAMP project)

Gambian Dalasi Fall Drastically in 2013

In September 2013, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that prolonged overvalued exchange rate would damage Gambia’s international competitiveness (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

THE GAMBIA: An Economy dominated by poor currency performance and strict tax rules in 2013

Think tanks say the economy is ‘still recovering’ from the severe drought that hit the country in 2011

 

In 2013, Gambia's currency, the Dalasi (D), recorded massive depreciation against major foreign currencies.

3 IFAD-funded projects in Gambia in final phase-out stages

IFAD and local project officials visit a rice field in Central River Region of the Gambia under the Ifad-funded PIWAMP project (Photo credit: M.E.Njie)

Gambia: IFAD link farmers with microfinance institutions

Farmers listening keenly to statements that suggest saving with microfinance institutions will help them access loans easily (Photo Credit: Mamadou Edrisa NJie)

The Gambia: BANK PHB Renamed Keystone Bank

The Bank had its licence seized in 2011 by the Central Bank of Nigeria for failing to meet a new capital requirement.

The Bank was among 10 banks that failed the CBN’s “stress test” conducted in June 2009, a manifestation that they would have struggled to withstand another financial crisis. (Photo Credit: MSJoof/TNBES/August2011)

Prolonged overvalued exchange rate would damage Gambia’s international competitiveness - IMF warns

The warning came at the back of several Gambia Government directives that downgraded foreign currency exchange rates, impose a moratorium on the shipment of the dollar, suspension of money operators, seizure of financial bureau licences, and arrests and detention of forex bureau staff – amid a continuous decline in value of the local currency, the Dalasi. (Photo Credit: Bloomberg)

The Gambia: IMF suggests further tax reforms to strengthen revenues

Also, IMF Board claims The Gambia made significant progress in the fight against poverty prior to the drought, however, it admitted that poverty is still widespread (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

GIABA responds to low performance of financial sector in West Africa

The Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)