Contact Address Details:
Central Bank
Website:
www.cbg.gm
www.gambank.gm
1
Ecowas Avenue
(Buckle Street)
Banjul
The Gambia
West Africa
Telephone number:
4228103
4227633
Fax:
4226969
Telex: 2218 GAMBANK GV
Opening hours:
Mon-Thur 8:00 am to 4: 00 pm
Fri Half-day to mid-day
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Background Information:
The Central
Bank of The Gambia (CBG) was established in the Banjul capital in 1971
to take the place of the Gambia Currency Board which was formed in
1964. Its current Governor is Mr. Modou Bamba Saho and the first
Deputy Governor is Basiru A. O. Njai as at April 2009.
Its main role is to act as banker to the Gambia
Government and the commercial banks. They are also responsible for
providing a secure & efficient payment & settlement system within
the finance sector.
The institution performs its role independently.
However, its role is carried under the general supervision of the
Secretary of State for Finance
and Economic Affairs.
In addition, the CBG has a
responsibility to carry out fiscal and monetary policies that have
been agreed between the Gambian authorities and the IMF. Furthermore,
it has a duty to carry out its responsibilities within the framework
of the current economic integration processes in ECOWAS. The date set
for the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) is the 1st December 2009.
The CBG job therefore is to work towards The Gambia fulfilling the
primary and secondary convergence criteria.
The CBG engages in
the money market to make sure that interest rates are matched with the
policy position of the CBG.
The currency department discharges the Bank’s statutory obligation to
ensure that there is enough notes and coins to meet the demand of the
public.
Monetary policy is aimed at keeping domestic inflation down to single
figures. The CBG uses a monetary targeting framework. It sets an
intermediate target for growth in broad money (as nominal anchor) and
uses reserve money as its operating target. The CBG issues Treasury
Bills as the main instrument for managing reserve money growth. The
Central Bank also has a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to set the
rediscount rate every 2 months.
The Central Bank's other functions involve various departments who issuing
(Gambia Government T-Bills) on behalf of the Government, banking supervision, insurance
industry compliance, licensing foreign exchange bureaus, economic
research, the production of statistics.
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