Caroline Abel named African Central Bank Governor of 2020
EIGHT years after she made history as the first woman Governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles in 2012, Caroline Abel has rung the bells again, this time in Africa, by being named Central Bank Governor of the Year 2020 in the African Banker Awards. Her achievement coincides in epic and poetic fashion with the very week that Seychelles was celebrating its 250th anniversary of the first human settlement that has come to create the proud and tiny Seychellois nation that often punches well above its weight in the world.
Upon receiving the award she immediately passed on the crown to her team, saying in the typical humility of a great team leader that it’s all thanks to the Central Bank staff that she leads.
A representative of the Awards committee said: “The Central Bank has been exemplary in its work be it on transparency, guidance to markets, in terms of its response to the current epidemic, in terms of playing the supervisory role for the banking sector and supporting the digitization of banking and finance,and also in terms of working alongside other institutions to provide stability and a supporting local economy”.
“The Bank is playing a major role in supporting the local economy, which has suffered greatly from Covid-19, supporting the banking sector and injecting liquidity into the market, acting in unison with different ministries to provide shock absorbers to the local economy, and acting in a manner that was timely and exemplary.
MODEL STUDENT
“Seychelles is really a model student in Africa and beyond.And our Central Banker this year, Caroline Abel, is more than deserving of the award”.With trademark modesty, Ms. Abel, the daughter of Antoine Abel, poet, and considered Seychelles’ first playwright, stated: “The work is not done by the Governor alone, but by a team of capable and dedicated individuals. Therefore, I would like to dedicate this award to the entire team at the Bank, who has been working tirelessly and making sacrifices to respond to the exigencies of the current crisis. “Let this award encourage and inspire us all to continue working hard and uphold our credibility as we steer our economy through the storms,” Ms. Abel was appointed Deputy Governor of the CBS in 2010 and in 2016 she pledged “we are working to bring financial services closer to the people”.
Ms. Abel holds a first degree in Economics from the University of Leeds, in England, and a Master’s degree in Monetary Economics from the University of Glasgow, Scotland.The African Banker Awards is organised by African Banker magazine, under the patronage of the African Development Bank Group. The award ceremony is usually held during the annual meeting of the African Development Bank. The awards are presented in various categories, to honour the achievements of individuals and institutions who have contributed significantly to the reform, modernisation and expansion of the banking and financial sector across the African continent.In his congratulations to Ms. Abel, President Danny Faure said that her award should serve as a motivation and an example for all institutions in Seychelles to aim for excellence.
Ms. Abel is credited with the publication in 2009 of a document entitled “Central Bank Independence in a Small Open Economy: The Case of Seychelles”.
