At the second ordinary meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), Governor Jean-Claude Kassi Brou gave a positive overview of the economic situation in the union in the first quarter of 2024, with robust growth forecasts for the year.
By Abdourahmane Diallo
On Tuesday in Dakar, the Governor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, presented an encouraging picture of the economic situation in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) in the first quarter of 2024.
Speaking at the 2nd meeting of the Central Bank’s MPC, he noted that “economic activity will remain dynamic in the first quarter of 2024, with growth estimated at 5.1 percent.”
According to him, “the resilience of activity in all sectors points to robust growth of more than 6 percent in 2024, after 5.3 percent in 2023”.
This positive performance comes against an international backdrop where, as the Governor pointed out, “the dynamism of the global economy continued in the first quarter of 2024”, with global growth expected to reach 3.2 percent this year, in line with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts.
On the inflation front, the situation appears to be under control in UEMOA, with Mr Brou noting that “inflation stood at 2.8 percent in the first quarter of 2024, remaining within the target range of 1 to 3 percent “. Underlying inflation even fell to 2 percent , he said.
The Governor of the BCEAO also highlighted the improvement in the external accounts situation, benefiting from “the favourable trend in the terms of trade, particularly the fall in the cost of imported energy products and the rise in the prices of our main export commodities”.
With regard to the financing of the economy, he indicated that this was “adequately provided by the banks”, with loans to the economy up by 5.1 percent and direct loans to private companies up by more than 7 percent.
At this session, the Board will examine the report on monetary policy in UEMOA, a request for access to the refinancing window for a financial institution and the renewal of mandates for the National Credit Council of Guinea-Bissau.
ARD/ac/lb/as/APA