Griffith Asia Institute’s South Pacific Studies Group (SPSG) is pioneering new research by actively engaging with regional central banks. Recognising a need for Australia to more effectively engage with its close neighbour, the SPSG was launched in 2012. Led by Dr Parmendra Sharma, the SPSG has been collaborating with a number of regional and Australian institutions with common interests. One such collaboration is with regional central banks, including the central banks of Fiji and Vanuatu, with plans underway to collaborate with PNG, Solomon Islands and others.

A key outcome to date has been joint working papers with the Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF)—the first such joint research collaboration between Griffith and a central bank, which now is part of a recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the RBF—another first with a central bank. Four joint working papers have now been published and available on our Griffith Asia Institute website. The working papers seek to disseminate the findings of work in progress to academics, governments and the public at large to encourage the exchange of ideas relating to the development of the financial sector and thereby national economic growth and development. Indeed, the workings papers are intended to, for the first time, become a robust scientific base for future policy development in the region.

The papers are also intended to provide an excellent platform for research seminars, workshops, symposiums and conferences, co-convened by the central banks and Griffith University. They are helping the regional central banks’ aspirations to develop and maintain research skills and capabilities equivalent to those practiced by central banks in developed economies, such as the Reserve Bank of Australia. This development is critical for institution building, especially for the resource–constrained, small island countries in the South Pacific. Furthermore, in the region’s emerging, more challenging, transparent and democratic environment, as the central banks’ role and functions become more transparent and scrutinised, the papers will assist with public accountability, clarifications, and the entire engagement process shown to be properly grounded in sound research.

Article by Griffith Asia Institute’s Dr Parmendra Sharma.