The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) has decided to leave its main key rates unchanged.

"The Monetary Policy Committee has decided to maintain unchanged the minimum interest rate for bidding on liquidity injection tender operations at 2.50% and the interest rate for the marginal lending window at 4 .50%. The required reserve coefficient applicable to banks in the Union remains fixed at 3.0%", we learn from the final communiqué of the CPM, read by Blohoue Toussaint Damoh. He is the Director of economic conditions and monetary analyzes of the BCEAO.

The BCEAO Monetary Policy Committee met on Wednesday, December 4, at the headquarters of the Central Bank in Dakar, in the presence of Governor Tiémoko Meyliet Koné.

The CPM of the BCEAO also mentioned the situation of inflation in the Union. And it was noted a drop in the "general level of consumer prices" during the third quarter of 2019. "This situation is linked to the continued fall in food prices in most countries of the Union, in prices of local cereals.Nevertheless, over a 24-month horizon, the inflation rate is projected by the Central Bank at 1.6% in line with the price stability objective pursued by the BCEAO", underlines the press release.

Addressing the monetary situation in the Union in the third quarter, the CPM notes "a slight deceleration in the money supply, in conjunction with the slowdown in claims". "For their part, the Union's foreign exchange reserves have consolidated on an annual basis, thus ensuring 4.8 months of imports of goods and services at the end of September 2019".

In addition, the average quarterly interest rate on the money market "remained almost stable at 2.70%, from one quarter to another".

The BCEAO also notes a faster increase in budget revenue compared to expenditure during the first 9 months of 2019.

“The execution of the financial operations of the Member States of the Union, during the first nine months of 2019, was marked by a faster increase in budgetary revenue compared to expenditure (18.3% against 12.5%) This development led to a reduction in the overall deficit, on a commitment basis, including grants, which stood at 2.7% of GDP, compared to 3.3% over the same period of the previous year”, underlines the CPM.

While welcoming these performances, the BCEAO nevertheless encourages the States "to continue the efforts undertaken to contain the budget deficit to a maximum of 3.0% of GDP in 2019 and to keep it below this threshold for the years to come, by line with Community objectives".

In the Union, the economic growth rate, for the whole of 2019, is projected at 6.6%.