H.E. Rania Al-Mashat is the current Minister of Tourism in Egypt and she has an extensive experience on monetary policy, having worked at the Central Bank of Egypt on developing and modernizing Egypt’s monetary policy strategy.
During the ERF 24th Annual Conference, H.E. Al-Mashat presented in the second plenary sessions. In her views, the new normal in the global economy has put different types of challenges for developed as well as developing countries. There is a dichotomy between the way both sides need to react to the new normal. During her presentation, H.E. Al-Mashat emphasized some of the implications on the developed world and the developing countries and presented the findings from her latest contribution to the book Advancing the Frontiers of Monetary Policy. The book presents inflation targeting in a new light where central banks need to focus on publishing an endogenous interest rate path to be able to manage long-term inflation expectations and also have a better control and long term interest rates.
Additionally, H.E. Al-Mashat shares her views about the Economic Research Forum, which she considers a very serious think tank. She was a summer intern in 1994 when she was a graduating senior and doctor Heba Handoussa had just started the ERF. ERF is a center that encourages researchers, students, policymakers, to have a frank and open dialogue. It also is an excellent networking institution where, even if you take different jobs and travel different places, you are able to find a soundboard to come and exchange views, fight, argue, sometimes reach consensus. It is a truly important economic home for all, not just researchers and students in the Middle East but all over the world.
