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Yaoundé - 29 March 2024 -

The Bank of Central African States (BEAC) has just published the new regulations on foreign exchange activity in CEMAC (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Gabon).

As part of the new regulations, opening of foreign currency account outside the CEMAC is prohibited to resident legal persons, with the exception of credit institutions. Targeted residents include those who live in the sub-region or have their predominant economic focus in the CEMAC.

This also applies to those who stay discontinuously for more than one year in one of the countries of the sub-region or intend to pursue an economic activity there for at least one year, including refugees.

However, BEAC says, the Central Bank may authorize a resident legal person to open a foreign currency account outside the CEMAC under the established conditions and procedures. Thereafter, the Central Bank informs the Ministry in charge of Money and Credit.

From now on, accounts of resident individuals opened abroad must be reported to the Central Bank. Also, the opening of a foreign currency account in CEMAC for the benefit of a resident is not allowed. However, the BEAC may authorize a resident legal person to open a foreign currency account within the CEMAC under the established conditions and procedures.

Finally, the foreign currency account opened in the sub-region may not be credited with payments in CFA francs or by debiting an account in CFA francs. In addition, it may not have a debit balance.

Withdrawals of foreign currency from a resident's foreign currency account to cover local needs are prohibited.

This new BEAC regulation aims to curb the scarcity of foreign exchange in the CEMAC zone. Economic agents complain that they cannot carry out their activities due to a lack of liquidity. To this concern, the Central Bank says it is a shortage artificially maintained by commercial banks.

Sylvain Andzongo

Published in Bank

Cemac States succeeded in mobilizing a total of XAF391 billion on the Beac securities market, in the second quarter of 2018, an official report said.

Monies far exceed the XAF351 billion initially forecasted to be raised, reflecting strong cash-flow needs facing treasuries in the Cemac countries. The most performing country in this operation is Gabon which raised XAF163.5 billion over the period, against XAF80.7 billion for Chad and XAF69 billion for Cameroon.

Of the money mobilized in Q2 2018 by all six countries, about XAF363.1 billion was collected through treasury bills (BTAs), which are short-term debt securities on which interest is discounted, while only XAF31.5 billion came from fungible treasury bonds (OTAs), which are long-term securities.

BRM

Published in Public management

GDP growth within the Cemac region is forecasted to reach 3.2% this year, up 1.5% compared to 2018. This is a conclusion of the first 2019 session of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), held March 21 in N’djamena, Chad.

In addition, the MPC “took note of the official entry into production of the CEMAC central balance sheet office, which will contribute to improving the availability and quality of financial information on non-financial companies, thus ensuring better access to bank financing,” according to an official Beac statement.

BRM

Published in Public management

A major outcome of the 33rd session of the Council of Ministers of the Central African Economic Union (UEAC) which took place March 22 in N’djamena, Chad, is the need to fuel key sectors within the Cemac region. Speaking at the event, Daniel Ona Ondo, head of the Cemac commission, evoked weak investments in areas such as agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and aquaculture; weakness that slows economic growth.

Central Africa is really dependent on food imports which peaked at XAF3,000 billion per annum, about $900 million,” the official regretted. According to him, “the major challenge for our countries is to ensure food and nutrition security,” in an environment where a restored trade balance will provide room for maneuver to ensure financing of the local industrial fabric of some States.

The issue will be discussed next June in Brussels, Belgium, during a round table by donors. Talks will focus on financing agriculture, fish farming, and aquaculture as well as agro-pastoral sectors. The meeting will gather diplomatic missions, international and regional organizations, banking & financial institutions, and NGOs.

The European Marketing Research Center (EMRC), an international platform based in Brussels and specialized in supporting economic and sustainable development in Africa, will also be part of the workshop, along with technical and financial partners including the African Development Bank, African Union, Green Climate Fund, Central African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank.

PcA

Published in Agriculture

Invited by Idriss Deby Itno (photo), the Chadian President, the Cemac Heads of State will gather next March 24 in Ndjamena, Chad.

The main objective of the meeting is to examine the progress of the implementation of resolutions made at the Conference of Heads of State held on 25th October 2018 in the same city ; resolutions that seek to revive economies within the region.

Another point is to evaluate the Institutional Reform Program and finally discuss the issue of financing the Community through the collection of the Community Integration Tax (CIT).

This 14th session of the Conference of Cemac Heads of State will be preceded by the 33rd session of the Council of Ministers of the Central African Economic Union (UEAC) which will take place March 22. Let’s also recall that the Ministerial Committee of the Central African Monetary Union (UMAC) will meet on March 23.

S.A

Published in Economy

Net foreign assets (NFA) of the Bank of Central African Countries -Beac- are on a good path this year, the International Monetary Fund pointed in a recent report on common policies within the Cemac region.

In 2019, assuming that the new IMF’s economic programs are approved with Congo and Equatorial Guinea to meet financing needs for their balance of payment, and that related to external budget aid is disbursed, the net foreign asset would increase by €1.1bln (XAF720 biillion) and would return to their projected bullish trend,” IMF indicated.

Whilst an improvement of Beac’s performance is forecasted for 2019, the bank however missed objectives with the IMF in 2018. The report states that the projected shortfall in the bank’s NFAs at €430 million, or about XAF281 billion at the end of 2018, is entirely due to the postponement of IMF-supported programs with Congo and Equatorial Guinea and subsequently of the external budget support valued at nearly €440 million, or XAF288 billion.

S.A

Published in Bank

The world prices of agricultural products exported by Cemac countries (cocoa, coffee, cotton etc.) are expected to bounce back, growing by 2% this year, compared to late 2018 when they declined 1.9% in the fourth quarter.

Statistics provided by the central bank Beac also forecast an increase by 5% in metals’ export prices, following flat prices in Q4 2018. According to the bank, the uptick is in line with a “supply reduction outlook and the control of commercial disputes.”

BRM

Published in Agriculture

The Financial Markets Commission (CMF) of Cameroon physically merged with the Libreville-based (Gabon) Central African Financial Market Supervisory Board (Cosumaf) in this month of February 2019, we learnt.

The merger’s initial deadline was 30 November 2018, as scheduled by Cemac heads of State regarding the unification of the region’s financial markets during a conference in Ndjamena, Chad, October 31, 2017. Chadian Nagoum Yassoum (photo), appointed during the conference, will chair the new institution for a period of five years, at the expense of Cameroonian Jean Claude Ngbwa. The latter was appointed head of the national CMF by presidential decree three years ago and did not complete his 5-year term before the merger decision took effect.

According to reliable information, some Cameroonian managers working at the CMF in Douala have been incorporated into the new Cosumaf in Libreville. The other workers were laid off, including Jean Claude Ngbwa. “In the target scheme of the new Cosumaf, the idea of a vice-president or CEO position held by a Cameroonian especially the president of the CMF did not prosper. Even less so the idea that the CMF will be a national branch of the new Cosumaf,” a source said.

In October 2017, CEMAC heads of state decided to unify the financial markets of Central Africa. The related additional act mandated the Central Bank to conduct the merger (regulators, stock exchanges, central depositories, settlement banks) by 30 June 2019 at the latest. The regulators (CMF and Cosumaf) are the first to materialize their physical fusion.

S.A

Published in Stock Exchange

The president of the Union of Central African Employers (Unipace), Cameroonian Célestin Tawamba (photo) met, February 18 in Yaoundé, with the Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute and other government members to discuss ways to address the current currency shortage in the sub-region. This was during the official opening of the Promote Fair 2019, in the presence of the President of the CEMAC Commission, Gabonese Daniel Ona Ondo.

This shortage, according to Célestin Tawamba, “undermines the credibility of companies with suppliers. It degrades the country risk of the sub-region, and tends to divert institutions and credit insurers from our companies”.

According to the official, the situation exposes companies in the sub-region to real and significant risks with regard to the protection of their assets. This is due to the non-effective payment of premiums owed to international reinsurance companies.

As solutions, President Tawamba recommended urgent consideration of the currency issue because it is important that measures are taken to establish priorities in the choice of operations subject to transfer orders.

“As arbitrary as it could be, the establishment of such priorities is absolutely strategic, the time necessary to pass a critical threshold, in order to avoid the succession of difficulties detrimental to business and the economy in general. Unipace and its member employers' organizations are willing to join in this reflection,” Célestin Tawamba said.

The Cameroonian private sector has been complaining for several months about the scarcity of foreign exchange. The Professional Association of Credit Institutions of Cameroon (Apeccam) reveals that “the processing and response times for foreign exchange requests by commercial banks at the Central Bank have become uncertain and now range from several weeks to several months”.

Beac blames commercial banks, suggesting the latter have refused to repatriate foreign currency.

S.A

Published in Trade

The bank of central African countries forecasts a decline in the export prices of logged or sawn timber shipped from Cameroon, Congo, Gabon and the Central African Republic, throughout 2019.

This downturn, beac said, is linked to the high timber stocks in producing countries as well as macroeconomic uncertainties in Europe, a main destination of wood produced by CEMAC countries. Further, the bank cited ‘the slowdown in Chinese demand, the weakness of export investment in emerging and developing economies and, finally, the increase in private sector debt’ as the core reasons of this projected price drop in 2019.

BRM

Published in Forest
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