In its capacity as the Secretariat of the OIC-COMCEC Central Banks Forum, the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye organized and hosted the 5^th Meeting of the Forum in Istanbul, Türkiye. The meeting brought together 8 Governors and 62 High-level Senior Officials from the Central Banks of 28 OIC Member Countries to discuss the current global and OIC economic outlook and to exchange views on promoting cooperation among OIC countries within the framework of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) financial cooperation agenda.

H.E. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK, addressed the Forum as a lead speaker and shared with the participants an overview of the economic and financial outlook of OIC countries. Noting that following the COVID-19 pandemic, the world economy showed a strong recovery in 2021 with an average growth rate of 6.3%, in 2022, the real GDP growth rate reached back to its pre-pandemic trajectory. Experiencing a lower contraction during the pandemic, she underlined that OIC countries demonstrated a stronger recovery during the post-pandemic period. In 2022, OIC countries recorded on average 5.6% growth in their GDPs, which is the highest growth rate observed over the last decade.

In this regard, H.E. SELÇUK pointed out the various challenges impacting the global economic and financial landscape. She further noted that while OIC countries have shown significant recovery, they continue to work hard to decrease their unemployment and inflation rates, currently showing divergence from the global averages. The Director General of SESRIC highlighted that OIC countries have shown commendable performance in areas of trade and investment. To ensure this progress is sustainable, she emphasized the need for substantial and concerted actions focusing on economic diversification and improving the quality of products manufactured. She also stressed the importance of strengthening resilience to future shocks and expressed her hope that the Forum would promote cooperation among OIC countries.

The 5^th Meeting of the OIC-COMCEC Central Banks Forum was concluded with the adoption of an official Communique.