As of 16 December 2022, the Monetary Policy Committee (Cpm) of the Central Bank of West African States (Bceao) decided to raise the Central Bank's key interest rates by 25 basis points. A decision taken at the end of the last session of the Committee of the year, which was held this Friday, December 9, in Dakar.

The final press release issued at the end of the last session states that the main policy rate at which the Central Bank lends its resources to banks rose from 2.50% to 2.75%, an increase of 0.25%. According to the Cpm, this increase is part of the gradual normalization of monetary policy that began in June 2022.

For him, this increase should help to gradually bring inflation back into the Central Bank's target range (1% to 3%) over the medium term. Jean-Claude Kassi-Brou, the governor of the BCEAO, noted that the inflation rate in the Union, which has been rising for several months, reached 8.4% in October 2022. Thus, for the boss, “the year 2022 ends in a context characterized by continued high inflation with increasing uncertainty at the global level.”

For its part, the Monetary Policy Committee notes that this upward trend is mainly due to the increase in the price of consumer food products and transport, with the adjustment of oil prices at the pump by the countries of the Union following the surge in oil prices on international markets.