New Central Banks, July 1964

FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK 133 New Central Banks * The Central Sixteen new central banks have opened their doors since as the Equatorial African central bank.) the States of West Africa serves Dahomey, Ivory the beginning of 1959—the Central Bank of the States of Bank of Africa and of Cameroon, the Central Bank of Coast, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Togo, and Upper Equatorial Afri- the States of West Africa, the Bank of Morocco, and the Volta. (This bank, which will here be termed West served Mali until Both of Central Bank of Nigeria in 1959; the Bank of Sudan, the can central bank, also 1962.) Bank of the of Guinea, and the Somali National these institutions were organized under French auspices Republic After Bank in 1960;the Bank of Jamaica, the Malagasy Bank of before the independence of the countries concerned. these countries Issue, and the Bank of the Republic of Mali in 1962; the becoming independent in 1960-61, signed with France 1960-62) under which all Central Bank of Algeria and the Central Bank of Cyprus agreements (during in the Bank of the National Bank of (except Mali) have continued to use the facilities of the 1963; Lebanon, and Rwanda, the Bank of the Kingdom of Burundi, and the existing central banks, whose organization power National Bank of the Congo (Leopoidville) in 1964. The have been considerably modifiedto conform to the changed central banks of Morocco, Nigeria, Sudan, andGuinea were situation. the twelve new described in a previous article in this Review:' the other All but two of the countries served by twelve newcentral banks willbe discussedhere.2 central banks had a monetary authority or currency board the The Central Bank of the States of Equatorial Africa prior to the establishment of the new banks; excep- and where and of Cameroon serves the newly independent states of tions were the Malagasy Republic Lebanon, been held Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo the note-issuing privilege had in each case by a banks retain (Brazzaville), and Gabon. (This bank will be referred to commercial bank. While all the new central some of the attributes of the institutions they replace, they have generally been given a wide variety of additional monetary control powers. 'Dorothy B. Christelow had primary responsibility for the prepa- The countries served by the new central banks vary ration of this article. considerably with respect to the degree of their financial I See "International Development?', this Review. October 1960, and economic development. In some of the new states pp. 181-83. The articic also treated the Bank of Ghana. established economic transactions take outside the monc- in 1957. and the Central Bank of Malaya and the Central Bank of many place Tunisia,established in 1958. tary sphere, while in others such as Lebanon and Jamaica 2Aiothergroup of new central banks—nothere discussed—will the banking systems are highly developed. The share of beginoperations in the near future. These includecentral banks for in the total money supply—a rough inverse Sierra Leone, Jordan. and Trinidad and Tobago. Furthermore,with currency the into being of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, the measure of the use of banks in a country—varies from coming the Central Bank of Central Bank of Malaya became Malaysia, roughly 30 per cent in Lebanon and Jamaica to around40 with responsibility for the entire new country. Conversely, the breakup of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasalandinto three per cent in Cyprus and Senegal, 50 per cent in Somalia, countries will lead to the emergenceof three separate central banks and reaches about 65 per cent in Mali and Upper Volta. to replace the Bank of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. One of these,the Rescrvc Bank of Rhodesia (for Southern Rhodesia), has already (The United States figure is about 20 per cent.)3 There opened its doors. White its powers and functionsresemble those of is also considerable variation in the degree to which finan- the predecessor institution in most respects, it has been given the added power to require banks to maintain cash reserves against cial institutions other than commercial banks have taken advancesrather than against deposits. In another group of countries—including Ethiopia, Iceland. Iraa, Nicaragua,and the United Arab Republic—where the central banks had exercised both central banking and commercial banking func- tions, these institutions have in recent years been converted into 3 The uniform definition of the money supply used for this com- centralbanks proper and their commercial bankingoperations trans- parison is that of the International Monetary Fund in its Interna- ferred to existing or newly established commercial banks. These tional Financial Statistics: currency outsidebanks, demand deposits, central bank reforms and conversionsare also outside the scope of post office checkingdeposits, and private-sector deposits with the this article. central bank where these exist; governmentdeposits are excluded. 134 MONTHLY REVIEW, JULY 1964 root. On the other hand, almost all the countries con- policy-making body. In Lebanon, two high government cerned display certain common characteristics: they are officials are minority members of the central bank's gov- notably dependent on international trade; foreign capital erning board; in Algeria, the law is sufficiently flexible to has played or is expected to play a considerable role in allow the chief of state to appoint government ollicials to their economic development; and foreign commercial a minority or majority position on the governing board. banks are a major element in their banking systems. In Mali, five of the ten-member governing board represent The objectives of the new central banks as set out in government departments and two represent the national their statutes are to assure the external and internal stabil- assembly. Other statutes provide for government approval ity of the currency and to foster a monetary environment or supervision of certain aspects of central banking. In conducive to cconornic development. To this end, all the Cyprus approval by the finance minister is required, if com- central banks are given the exclusive right of note issue, mercial bank reserve requirements are to he raised above a the obligation to act as fiscal agent and banker for the certain level. In Jamaica, the finance minister may 'from government, the power to buy and sell gold and foreign time to time after consultation with the governor give to the exchange, and the authority to discount, purchase, and sell bank inwriting suchdirections of a general nature as appear specified types of financial obligations. In addition, most to the minister to be necessary in the public interest". In of the new banks have at least some of the following Somalia, a committee consisting of the prime minister and powers of control and supervision over commercial banks: key cabinet members is designated to supervise the opera- to establish minimum cash reserve requirements, to set tions of the central bank. In Burundi, major policy deci- limits on lending and deposit rates, to prescribe the asset sions of the central bank must be approved by the finance distribution and the total volume of credit outstanding, to minister. In the Congo, a representative of the ministry of examine the books and to require statistical reports, and financeattends meetings, but is not a member, of the bank's to set minimum capital requirements. governing board. At the same time, a majority of the statutes limit cen- CENTRALBANK-GOVERNMENT RELATIONS tral bank financing of their governments; the limitations typically apply to direct financing (i.e., through short- All the new banks are owned by the respective govern- term advances or direct purchases of securities) and to ments (except that the French government still holds all indirect financing (i.e., through open market purchases or the capital of the Equatorial African central bank and discounting of government securities offered by banks or half the capital of the Malagasy bank). In most cases, others). Algeria, the West African countries, and Mala- the presiding officer and the boards of management are gasy all limit the total volume of government indebtedness appointed by the respective governments for a fixed pe- that may be held by the central banks to a specified pro- riod and arc subject to reappointment. The exceptions are portion (varying from 10 per cent to 15 per cent) of the three central banks whose member countries—all for- ordinary government revenues (luring the previous fiscal mcr French colonies—belong to the African Financial year. In the Congo, direct and indirect advances may each Community. The West African central bank's administra- equal 20 per cent of average government receipts over a tive council includes a minority appointed by the French past three-year period. Cyprus and Jamaica set more com- government, and its presidency rotates every two years plex limits. Thus, in Cyprus the government's total direct among council members representing the member states. and indirect indebtedness to the central bank may amount Half the council members of the Malagasy Bank of Issue to 20 per cent of annual revenues plus 6 per cent of the are appointed by France, and the president is chosen by bank's sight liabilities plus the government securities the the council, subject to the approval of the governments of bank took over from a note security fund. In Jamaica, in the Malagasy Republic and France. The French govern- addition to central bank short-term advances up to 15 per ment also appoints one half the members of the governing cent of annual government revenue, 50 per cent of the council of the Equatorial African central bank and, in assets backing the currency may be in securities of the addition, the President of the French Republic appoints Jamaican government; moreover, the bank may hold gov- the president of that institution.

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