Foreign exchange market

This weekend finds the currencies in scattered ranks. As traders bet that the UK's economic recovery will pick up speed with the rollout of coronavirus vaccines, the pound hit its highest level in three years, taking its gains this year to 4.2%. The dollar fell slightly and the offshore yuan remained stable following China's latest efforts to contain the currency. The Australian dollar pared its gains after the central bank left its key policy parameters unchanged.

In addition, a report published by the European Central Bank reveals that the weight of the euro as a reserve currency in the world has decreased in 2020 and against a background of low interest rates in the euro zone. However, the euro remains the second most used currency in the world after the dollar.

Money Market

Senegal on Wednesday set the price of a new Eurobond issue (sovereign bonds) for 775 million euros, or 508 billion FCFA, with a fixed interest rate of 5.375% on a final maturity. 16 years old. The operation experienced an oversubscription rate equal to nearly six times the amount sought by Senegal and the quality of the order book, with reference institutional investors in this field.

Stock market

In the ball of the major global stock exchange platforms, we must now reckon with a newcomer. The pan-European Stock Exchange is now big enough to rival the major stock exchanges in Asia, which have grown at lightning speed in recent years. Euronext, already at the head of the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon and Oslo Stock Exchanges, leaves behind the operator of the London Stock Exchange, the LSE, which it has just bought Borsa Italiana, and whose stock market weighs just over $3.6 trillion

On the side of the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM), we note a continuation of the series of declines in the market capitalization of the equity market. This capitalization stood at 4,661.747 billion FCFA. In total, in the space of four trading days, the capitalization of the equity compartment fell by 77.16 billion FCFA.

Raw materials

In the aftermath of the OPEC+ summit, oil prices, in particular Brent (reference for Algerian oil) maintained their upward trend. It thus exceeds the bar of 70 dollars per barrel. Oil market watchers attribute the bullish trend to the meeting of members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their 10 allies, during which they decided to stick to the strategy agreed in April of gradually increasing production. of petroleum.

The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) in its latest monthly note published on June 1 indicates that cotton lint production will experience a rebound in 2021/2022. During the said season, the production of cotton lint is in fact expected to climb to 1.46 million tonnes, an increase of 38% compared to the volume of the previous campaign (1 million tonnes) and a new record. According to the Cotton Development Company (Sodecoton), Cameroon produced 357,000 tons of cotton during the 2020-2021 campaign, which has just ended. In comparison with the 2019-2020 campaign, the country recorded an increase of 29,000 tonnes. Compared to the 2019/2020 campaign, food production in WAEMU countries is around 69.675 million tonnes for the 2020/2021 campaign, an increase of 5.1%. According to the BCEAO's 2020 annual report, this improvement is driven by tubers (+3.9%) and cereals (+3.8%). As for the production of other crops (legumes, horticultural plants, fruits, etc.), they experienced a surge of 10.0%.

Companies

The Weblogy group, promoter of the abidjan.net site, has launched a solution for digital payments. Apaym pro promotes secure digital payments on the Visa network. The new innovative mobile application offers users the possibility of meeting several needs, in particular payment of electricity bills, insurance, establishment of administrative documents.

The prospect of the Californian company, PayPal would be to emulate the success of Chinese “super app” like WeChat and Alipay. The American payment giant, which has more than 400 million customers in more than 200 markets, dreams of being a “super app”, according to an announcement by its boss, Dan Schulman, during an investor day in February .

The American CWP Global signs the largest renewable energy project in the world. It is preparing to carry out a 30 GW or 30,000 MW Power To X project in Mauritania. With a total cost of 40 billion USD, the AMAN project is the largest of its kind ever carried out in the world.

Bank and insurance

The Banque Nationale d'Investissement (BNI) called on the expert firm PDCP to support it in its compliance process. With the support of this firm, the BNI obtained on March 17, 2021 decision No. 2020-0624 authorizing the processing of personal data. Obtaining this decision demonstrates once again the commitment of the financial institution to comply with the laws and strengthen its confidence with the public in the processing of their personal data.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) granted the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) a grant of nearly 535 million CFA francs to strengthen the regional financial market. This aid obtained from the Assistance Fund for the African Private Sector (Fapa), financed by Japan and Austria and housed within the AfDB, should make it possible to implement the revitalization of the public securities market, support for the grant and support for the management of the project.

For its part, the National Bank for Economic Development (BNDE) unveils its new visual identity with more expressive colors that anchor the bank in its universal character, the financing of SMEs, agribusiness and the real economy. . BNDE thus reaffirms its desire to support the cashew sector, the groundnut value chain and, among other things, the marketing of rice by adjusting to the adjusted and accelerated Priority Action Plan (PAP 2A), revised version of the Senegal Plan Emergent (PSE), for economic recovery.

The BGFIBank Group celebrated its 50th anniversary this week. Indeed, since 1971, the BGFIBank Group supports its customers with the same degree of Requirement and spirit of Excellence. The last 50 years have been synonymous with continuous growth for the BGFIBank Group. With nearly 2,300 employees and 20 companies present in 11 countries, the Group is ready to look forward to the next 50 years with the same will and determination that make it one of the main banking and financial groups in Africa, multi-sector and multi-business, leader in its domestic market in Gabon and in the CEMAC zone.

Financial crimes

Côte d'Ivoire is working to strengthen its legal arsenal for an effective fight against financial crime. Through two decrees, the Government announces the creation of a trial chamber specializing in matters of financial crime within the Court of First Instance of Abidjan and the methods of execution of the sentence of work of general interest as well as the entities likely to accommodate the convict to work in the general interest, which are, on the one hand, the State, local authorities, public establishments and, on the other hand, associations declared to be of public utility as well as persons corporations under private law fulfilling a public service mission.

Meanwhile, in Morocco, Bill No. 12.18 amending and supplementing the entire Penal Code and Law No. 43.05 relating to the fight against money laundering has been approved by the House of Representatives in the unanimity last Wednesday during a second reading. This regulation aims to strengthen the national legal system to deal with this type of crime.

On the Kenyan side, following a complaint by customers, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) announced that it has banned 624 digital lenders and credit-only providers from sharing their customers' data with Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs). ). These customers demand protection of their personal data.

Regional growth

African leaders have condemned the military-organized coup. At the end of their extraordinary summit, the Heads of State of the Community of West African States (ECOWAS) decided to suspend Mali from its bodies. The Heads of State called on the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) to support the transition process initiated in Mali.

The World Bank and the Burkinabè government jointly held an international symposium on the internalization of the WAEMU directives on public finances, on June 3 and 4, 2021 in Ouagadougou. An opportunity to take stock of the situation and provide perspectives. The inaugural conference is moderated by the teacher-researcher, Pr Salif Yonaba, associate professor of public law on the theme: "The logic of performance in the Member States of the UEMOA: from yesterday to today, and tomorrow ? ".

The Regional Mortgage Refinancing Fund (CRRH-UEMOA) approved the accounts of CRRH-UEMOA for the 2020 financial year with a net result of 1.308 billion FCFA. This result is up by +5.2% compared to the result of 1.243 billion FCFA in 2019. These figures were delivered at the end of its 10th Ordinary General Assembly held by videoconference on April 30.

The 2021 edition of the African Econometric Society Conference (AFES 2021) was launched this week, at the National School of Statistics and Applied Economics (ENSEA) in Abidjan. Themes, such as, “Improving Pre-Secondary Education in Africa: Key Challenges and Solutions for Human Capital Development”, “Educational Policies for Sustainable Success” and “Secondary Education Performance: An Experimental Case of Ghana” furnished this conference.

On the occasion of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the African Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Alassane Ouattara, guest of Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the international financial institution, pleaded for a significant increase in the volume of financing granted to African countries. Former Director of the African Department of the IMF, the Ivorian Head of State, speaking by videoconference, declared that despite efforts to mobilize domestic resources and the contribution of the private sector, African countries will unfortunately not be able to cover all the needs for the economic recovery.

Finally, the Regional Consular Chamber of UEMOA (CCR-UEMOA) held its 21st Session this week. This meeting brought Daouda COULIBALY to the head of the organization. For the new management team, the need would be to work to strengthen the governance of the institution and especially to continue the measures to reduce its lifestyle in order to strengthen its operational capacities to meet the challenges of the 2030 vision.