Tanzania's Ndulu wins Best African Central Bank Governor’s Award, again

The former Bank of Tanzania Governor Prof Benno Ndulu

What you need to know:

According to a statement from Bank of Tanzania (BoT) public relations and protocol department, Prof Ndulu was honored this week at the ongoing annual meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Busan, South Korea.

Dar es Salaam. The former Bank of Tanzania Governor Prof Benno Ndulu has emerged winner of the 2018 African Banker’s Central Bank Governor of the Year Award in recognition of his contribution to financial inclusion and increased access to banking services in Tanzania.

He received the award for the third time. He first received the award 2009 before triumphing again in 2015.

According to a statement from Bank of Tanzania (BoT) public relations and protocol department, Prof Ndulu was honored this week at the ongoing annual meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Busan, South Korea. The Executive Director of the AfDB for the East Africa region, Dr Namajeje Weggoro, received the award on behalf of the former Governor.

“The award is being granted to me and through me the BoT…I requested and organisers agreed that Dr. Namajeje Weggoro, the Executive Director at the AfDB for East Africa Constituency to receive this award on my behalf. I had not known then about BoT Deputy Governor Julian Banzi Raphael participation at the AfDB annual meetings, otherwise he could have done so on behalf,” he said in a telephone interview in Dar es Salaam.

According to African Banker Group Publisher and Managing Director, Mr Omar Ben Yedder, the magazine’s awards committee chose Prof Ndulu

from amongst his peers to be the winner of the African Banker Central Bank Governor of the Year Award. Prof Ndulu has been honored in recognition of his considerable achievements during his term as Governor, most notably in championing financial inclusion and overseeing increased access to banking services for over 70 per cent of Tanzania’s population.

“In this respect, Ndulu is a pioneer, both in Africa and globally. He has also been a frontrunner in terms of regulation and maintaining cautious oversight of the banking sector as a whole, as well as encouraging probity and best practice in the industry,” he said in an invitation letter to the award winning ceremony.

The awards giving ceremony brought together key banking industry players and top government officials from Africa and around the world to honour the achievements of institutions and individuals, who have contributed immensely to the reform, modernization and expansion of the continent’s banking and financial sector, whilst driving Africa’s sustained economic growth.

It is the third time Prof Ndulu, is being recognized as the Best

Central Bank Governor in Africa. The first time was in 2009, when he was awarded by Emerging Markets magazine during the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Istanbul, Turkey.

Prof Ndulu also won the 2015 Best Central Bank Governor in Africa award by the Africa Investor magazine. The award, which was in recognition of Prof Ndulu’s competence and contribution in attracting investment and developing a hospitable environment for investment in

Tanzania, was presented to him on the fringes of the United Nations

General Assembly in New York, United States.

Prof Ndulu completed his 10-year tenure as Bank of Tanzania Governor

in January 2018.