Ministry of Finance Participates in the Fourth International Financial Architecture Working Group Meeting within the G20 Finance Track for 2022The Ministry of Finance recently participated in the Fourth International Financial Architecture (IFA) Working Group Meeting within the G20 Finance Track for 2022, which was held in a hybrid format on 16 and 17 June 2022. The meeting, which was held under G20 Indonesian Presidency, sought to discuss key global financial issues focusing on global financial stability, the global financial safety net and development financing, as well as global financial development and sovereign debt vulnerabilities.Asma Alzarooni, Head of Exchange of Tax Information Section at the Ministry of Finance, participated in the meeting along with G20 members, invited countries, representatives from international organisations and the IFA working group's affiliated partners.The attendees discussed the current level of collaboration between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and regional financing agreements (RFAs), and ways to improve and enhance these collaborations. They also discussed options for increasing Multilateral Development Banks' development financing and optimising the balance sheets of the Multilateral Development Banks to increase the development impact. The meeting also sough to discuss debt vulnerabilities in middle-income countries, and global financial resilience including building local currency capital markets, and the IMF integrated policy framework for managing capital flows.With regards to building local currency capital markets, the ministry's team reviewed the UAE's experience in launching the conventional AED denominated Treasury Bonds (T-Bonds), which were issued by the Government of the United Arab Emirates, represented by the Ministry of Finance. Issuing the T-Bonds in local currency will contribute to building a local currency bond market, diversifying financing resources, as well as boosting the local financial and banking sector. The team also looked forward to discussing different options and paths for establishing local capital markets in different countries' contexts.At the end of the meeting, the members agreed to continue working to implement IFA's plan based on the latest global financial developments, and progress in this regard will be discussed in the upcoming IFA Working Group meeting in September 2022.
