Monies from foreign donors to Gambia government reduced significantly in 2013

US Dollar notes

Grants to The Gambia, moneys donated by multinational organisations and foreign governments, had reduced by more than D1 billion (about US$ 2,632,000) in 2013, statistics from Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG) has indicates.  

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the CBG states in its quarterly report, released on Friday, that grants (to The Gambia) declined significantly from D1.8 billion (US$  5, 260, 000) in 2012 to D725.1 million (US$ 2,000,000) in 2013.

The Committee has not given any reason for this negative development.  However, in 2013, President Jammeh abruptly withdrew The Gambia from the Commonwealth, and also cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan; an organization, and a country that used to donate to the country.

West African accountants urge to cooperate with other authorities to tackle money laundering

Dr Abdullahi Shehu, DG of GIABA

Accountants in the West African sub-region should cooperate and collaborate with relevant authorities in their countries to curb the menace of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (ML and FT), said the director general of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).

Dr Abdullahi Shehu said accountants across the sub-region should cooperate with authorities like the police, lawyers, and other law enforcement agencies in customer identification, and record keeping and reporting of suspicious transactions.  This is cognizance of the fact that the fight against the twin evils of ML/TF required concerted efforts.

Dr Shehu made this statement on Wednesday in Banjul during the beginning of a two-day regional training on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML and CFT) requirements for accountants.   

The training, which is organised by GIABA, is being attended by accountants from English-speaking countries in the sub-region namely Ghana, The Gambia, Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone.  It is meant to enhance the capacity of participants to enable them fulfil their obligations to adopt and implement AML and CFT measures.  Such measures include risk assessment and application of the risk-based approach to AML and CFT implementation.

Dr Shehu noted that if the expertise of accountants is provided to a criminal enable them (the criminals) to legitimatise their illegal funds through money laundering, the process of legitimisation of illegally acquired money in order to hide its true source. 

“It is therefore critical that accountants and accounting professionals are aware of and thus, are required to exercise due diligence and consistently monitor transactions of their clients to ensure accurate and meaningful disclosures of suspicion of illegal activity,” the GIABA DG said.

As financial professionals, accountants cannot afford to be complacent when it to being involved in the laundering or criminal proceeds. 

GIABA DG told the accountants: “You are expected to be on the lookout for possible criminal activities because, even if you are judged to have been unaware of the full nature of a client’s shady business, you will still be subject to legal or professional penalties at the end of the day.”

Gambia Central Bank to reduce money supply in the economy

To control price stability and reduce inflation

The Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG) has issued a directive raising the amount of money that commercial banks in the country have to hold as reserve - amount of cash that they should not loan out to customers. 

Governor Amadou Kolley of the Central Bank

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the CBG has raised the reserve requirement of commercial banks by two percentage points to 12 per cent, a press release from the Bank on Monday stated.  

 
The higher the reserve requirement is set, the less cash banks will have to loan out, leading to lower money in circulation.

The rationale behind this impromptu decision is to withdraw excess Dalasi liquidity out of the economy and thus help preserve price stability, the release affirmed. 

This is one of the additional measures the CBG has taken to restore stability and transparency in the foreign exchange market.

The decision follows a recent decision of the MPC, early this month, when it increased the policy rate by two percentage points to 14 per cent.

The measure was intended to enhance the attractiveness of Dalasi assets and to dampen inflationary pressures.

 
At that time, the MPC also indicated that it would closely monitor developments as well as take additional measures it deemed absolutely necessary.

According to the press release, the MPC in its monitoring has observed that activities in the foreign exchange market continue to exert pressure on the change rate of the Dalasi. 

Such activities like disorderly market conditions, characterised by high exchange rate volatility and wide bid-offer spreads, create inflationary pressure and stifle economic growth