(Business in Cameroon) - On June 24, the second meeting of the Bank of Central African States’ (BEAC) monetary policy committee was held, official sources reveal. At the end of the meeting, the central bank of the six Cemac countries (Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, the CAR, Chad, and Equatorial Guinea) praised the good performance of the region’s foreign reserves despite the health crisis raging around the world.  

 “ (…) The external financing raised by States to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic (…) helped minimize the effects [of this pandemic] on the monetary situation. Consequently, foreign reserves rose to represent 5.7 months of goods and services import while the currency’s external coverage reached 78% at end May 2020, against 67% at end-December 2019,” the BEAC informs.

Nevertheless, the BEAC warns, over the whole 2020 year, the currency’s external coverage rate would drop to 55%. The central bank also projects an economic recession in this community space during the 2020 financial year and a slight increase in inflation (2.5%) to stabilize a little below the community threshold of 3%.

BRM