(Business in Cameroon) - Banks’ gross reserves (free reserves + required reserves) within the Cemac area increased to CFA1,9326 billion in July 2018, from CFA1,606.2 billion the same period in 2017, an improvement by 20.3% against -30.8% last year. This was revealed in a report recently published by the Bank of Central African countries (Beac).

In addition, Beac indicates an acceleration in the gross reserves’ growth rate by 17.5% in Q2 2018 after +16.9% a quarter earlier. Over this period (Q2), free reserves increased by 19.4% to CFA1,385.6 billion, compared with -36.1% the same period in 2017.

By component, the report indicates, this positive trend is mainly the result of the growth in the balance of banks' current accounts at the Central Bank (21.0%, to CFA1,068.8 billion). Banks' cash balances increased by 14.6% to CFA316.8 billion, while bank investments on the money market remained constant at CFA55.4 billion. Similarly, over the same period, required reserve increased by 22.6% to CFA547.0 billion, while they were down 11.3% over the same period in 2017.

S.A