The gross reserves of the CEMAC banking system (composed of free reserves and minimum reserves) increased from 2,431.7 billion CFA francs (about 4.42 billion USD) at the end of June 2019 to 2,631.5 billion CFA francs (about 4.7 billion USD) at the end of June 2020, in view of the data of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC). The observation of an increase of 8.2% over one year, relatively less than that observed between June 2018 and June 2019 (34.1%).

According to the central bank, the evolution contributed to the increase in the share of reserves in the balance sheet of banks (reserves / balance sheet total) of the CEMAC, which evolved from 17.4% in June 2019 to 17.9% a year later, a gain of 0.5 points against 3.4 points in June 2019. Therefore, this increase is due to the fact that free reserves, from 1,766.8 billion CFA francs at the end of June 2019, to 1,916.3 billion a year later, or 8.5%, after the 39.2% jump observed a year earlier.

For the most part, minimum reserves increased by 7.6% to 715.2 billion against 664.9 billion in June 2019. "The main component of free reserves, the balance of banks' current accounts at the Central Bank returned, during the period under review, from 1,467.9 billion under review. billion to $1,583.6 billion, up 7.9%, following a previous 51.8%. In addition, bank receipts increased by 11.3% to 332.7 billion in June 2020," explains the Yaoundé-based institution.

As reminder, 55 commercial banks animate the banking sector in the six countries of the sub-region. According to a recent monetary policy report published by the BEAC, activity in 2019 was marked by evolutionary fluctuations with a total of balance sheets which, at 31 December 2019, stood at 12,363 billion CFA francs, an increase of 5.3%, compared to 2018.