Foreign exchange market

The euro remained stable Friday morning against the dollar in a wait-and-see market before a speech by Jérôme Powell, president of the American Central Bank (Fed), which could initiate a change of tone on monetary policy in the United States. Meanwhile, the dollar fell against several currencies, while the chairman of the American Central Bank (Fed) Jerome Powell was more cautious than expected on a possible tightening of monetary policy in the future. The dollar index, which compares the greenback to a basket of other major currencies including the euro, yielded 0.35% to 92.72 points. Currency traders believe that the Fed will tighten its monetary policy before the European Central Bank (ECB), which makes the dollar more attractive than the euro.

Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies are having another exceptional week. The cryptocurrency leader continues to emerge from a deep slump that has lasted for months. For the first time since May, the price of bitcoin exceeds $50,000. Other currencies also rose. Indeed, Ethereum was up more than 3%, while dogecoin was up almost 2%.

After the United States, PayPal is launching its cryptocurrency service in the United Kingdom. This is the first time that PayPal has rolled out this type of service outside the United States, where it also allows purchases from a set of partner companies. As in the United States, PayPal relies on a partnership with Paxos Trust Company to enable the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies in the United Kingdom.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance bows to anti-money laundering pressure. However, it strengthens its controls against money laundering by launching an identity verification device to access its services.

Two years after the fanfare announcement of the creation of a digital currency 100% made in Facebook, the Silicon Valley giant is concretizing the launch of a new, much less ambitious digital transaction system. On Wednesday August 18, David Marcus, in a Medium post, CEO of Facebook Financial, the group's subsidiary that develops online payments, announced that his Novi digital wallet was "ready to enter the market", without Might as well set a schedule.

Money Market

Through its National Directorate of Treasury and Public Accounting, the State of Mali raised on August 25, 2021 on the financial market of the West African Monetary Union (UMOA) an amount of 30 billion FCFA. This operation took place at the end of its simultaneous issue of recovery bonds (ODR) from the treasury with a maturity of 3 and 5 years. After the auction, 97.127 billion FCFA of overall bids from investors were identified by the Agence UMOA-Titres out of the amount put up for auction by the issuer of 30 billion FCFA.

Stock market

The President of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (CESOC), Mairou Malam Ligari met the Director General of the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) of UEMOA, EDOH Kossi Amenounvé. An opportunity to discuss the mission and objectives of CESOC as well as the challenges the institution is currently facing. This is particularly the issue of popular ownership in Niger and the distribution of wealth in Nigerien municipalities.

In addition, the market capitalization of the bond market of the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) exceeded 7,000 billion FCFA at the end of the trading session of Thursday, August 26, 2021. This capitalization went from 6921, 185 billion FCFA the day before to 7,083.908 billion FCFA. The market capitalization of the equity market ended down by 343 million FCFA to 5,259.738 billion FCFA against 5,259.395 billion FCFA the day before. The total value of transactions amounted to 3.005 billion FCFA against 15.391 billion FCFA the day before.

At the end of the first quarter of 2021, the government securities market in the countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) experienced a decline of 5.4% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. Issues of government securities treasury including assimilable treasury bonds (BTA) and assimilable treasury bonds (OTA) amounted to 899.25 billion FCFA (1.6 billion dollars) against 950.18 billion FCFA (1.7 billion dollars ) recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020. During the period considered, the general trend is favorable to short-term securities (BTA), representing 59.38% of the volume of issues compared to 40.62% for long-term securities (OTA).

Raw materials

WTI and Brent are boosted by better demand prospects. In the aftermath of a rebound of more than 5%, the outlook for demand for black gold is improving. The fall in the dollar, which last week reached a 10-month high against the euro, played for black gold, quoted in the American currency. Meanwhile, the world's largest economy, the United States, is losing control of the market.

The price of gold stabilized over the week after a tumultuous start to the month, amid headwinds of investor concern and a rising dollar. The ounce of gold was worth 1,782.94 dollars, against 1,779.75 dollars the previous Friday at the end of the session. The price of copper took a beating, falling back below 9,000 dollars per ton. Cotton prices hit after a run up that started at the beginning of the month, driven in particular by disappointing production forecasts from the US Department of Agriculture.

The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) monthly report published last Tuesday reveals that the average differential paid in European markets for cocoa from Côte d'Ivoire fell by 42% in July compared to its levels at the start of the campaign. , in October 2020, from $481 to $278 per ton. The trend was worse for Ghana which saw its differential fall by 64%, to $374 in July from $614 in October. As for Nigeria, the drop was 46%, to $219 against $407.

The latest monthly report from the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) indicates that Côte d'Ivoire has already sold 1.4 million tonnes of beans in advance as of August 8th. This volume represents 93% of the target of 1.6 million tonnes expected by the end of next September.

During the previous campaign, Cameroon produced its best volume of quality beans in the last twenty years. The Cameroonian bean has gained in flavor and value. Indeed, more than 226,300 tonnes of beans out of the 292,471 tonnes marketed were subjected to quality control before export. For the cocoa campaign that is ending, local processing was 62,425 tonnes thanks to 34 units identified across the country.

Companies

For the 2020 financial year , the company Tractafric Motors Côte d'Ivoire ( TMC), specializing in the sale of new motor vehicles, will pay its shareholders an overall net dividend of 1.668 billion FCFA on September 2 , 2021. According to the announcement by the managers of the company based in Abidjan, compared to the 10.240 million shares that make up the share capital of the company, the net dividend per share amounts to 162.90 FCFA against 159.3 FCFA in 2019, i.e. a increase of 3.6 FCFA. The dividend that will be paid to shareholders represents 130.32% of the nominal value of the share , which is 125 FCFA .

The Malian Minister of Economy and Finance Alousseni Sanou and the Managing Director of the Private Sector Guarantee Fund (FGSP-SA) Adrien Sarr signed an agreement relating to the management of the Partial Credit Portfolio Guarantee Fund (Fund GPP) to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Mali, as part of the project for the Promotion of Access to Financing, Entrepreneurship and Employment in Mali (Pafeem). In the amount of CFAF 7.7 billion, the signing of the agreement relating to the management of the Partial Loan Portfolio Guarantee Fund (GPP Fund) for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Mali aims to encourage Banks and Decentralized Financial Systems to lend to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to meet their short-term financing needs, arising from the health crisis as well as structural problems of access to financing in general.

Thanks to the new strategy for the development of its African network, currently being implemented in Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon, Air Peace, the first Nigerian airline carried out its inaugural flight to Cameroon. The country will now be served by three weekly flights, departing from Lagos and Port Harcourt, said Stanley Olisa, the company's spokesman.

Banks and Insurance

The institutions of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group specialized in private sector development will organize on September 2, 2021 in Tashkent, the Private Sector Forum within the framework of the annual meetings of the Boards of Governors and the general assemblies of the affiliated members to the Group. According to a press release, the forum will be organized around the theme of "Respond, recovery and recovery: for a post-Covid-19 of resilience and prosperity for All".

The outlook backed by BOA Benin's "A+" long-term credit rating has changed from "stable" to "positive" at the end of the latest assessment by the rating agency Bloomfield Investment. However, the outlook attached to the "A1" short-term rating remains "stable". Valid for the period from May 2021 to April 2022, this new assessment confirms the financial performance of BOA Benin, which saw its profit increase by 5% to 4.36 billion FCFA in the first quarter of 2021.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Congo (BCC), Malangu Kabedi Mbuyi succeeds the Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, John Rxangombwa. It thus takes the reins of the Association of African Central Banks (ABCA). The new president has included her action in that of the founding fathers of the African Union, which consists in advancing the 2063 agenda. It is a question of building a strong and competitive Africa on an international scale with the prospect of activity of the African Central Bank whose headquarters will be in Lagos.

The BGFIBank group, the leading bank in the sub-region with a turnover of more than 3,000 billion FCFA in 2020 (5.3 billion dollars) has just entered into a strategic partnership with the Commercial Bank Centrafrique (CBCA). The new agreement initialed last week in Bangui by the two banking institutions consists in particular in strengthening the operational capacity of the Commercial Bank Centrafrique.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea is about to set up a digital currency. Through this reform, certain transactions will be carried out from mobile phones and electronic cards without Electronic Payment Terminal (TPE) etc. The currency would make it possible to make purchases, to send money, or to receive it. It will be transmitted from user to user, thus allowing economic agents to make easy and safe daily payments.

Members of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher and University Education (ANAQ-ESU) held a capacity building workshop. The participants in this workshop pledged to work in synergy so that this structure fully plays its role in the DRC in the search for quality in the supply of training for learners and their use in the national and international market, the viability and competitiveness of universities.

the branch of Wafa IMA Assistance based in Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire has received assistance reinsurance approval in order to offer its capacities, its know-how and that of its large network of service providers in the 14 insurance markets that account the CIMA. The approval was granted by the Regional Insurance Control Commission, regulator of the insurance sector of the Inter-African Conference of Insurance Markets (CIMA).

Financial crimes

During the second extraordinary plenary session of its Technical Commission, the national correspondent of the Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), Idrissa Touré informs that the experts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will assess Côte d'Ivoire, in 2022, in the context of the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism (AML / CFT).

In Benin, After the arrest a few days ago of two police officers for blunders, it is the turn of the customs officers involved in a corruption case to be arrested. Three senior Beninese customs officials working at the Hilacondji customs post, located on the Benin-Togo border, have been guarded since Friday August 20, 2021 at the Economic and Financial Brigade (BEF).

The NGO Global Financial Integrity (GFI) and the Financial Transparency Coalition working group have published a report on Guinean investments abroad. This study places Guinea high on the list of countries with high investments in the United States. The survey, released in early August, is by analysts Lakshmi Kumar and Kaisa de Bel and is titled "Acres of Money Laundering: Why US Real Estate Is a Kleptocrats' Dream." “The report identifies that in approximately 13% of the cases studied, the illicit money originated from sub-Saharan Africa: Guinea, Gambia, Nigeria and the Republic of Congo”.

The Governor of Kongo-Central, Atou Matubuana is in the crosshairs of the Inspector General of Finance (IGF) who has just brought him to justice for alleged embezzlement. Cited as accomplices, his chief of staff, Claude Nzeza zi Ngeti, his private secretary Pathy Samba Tanuemino, and his assistant Kheme Fuka Unzola, are also involved in these proceedings.

The former Prime Minister of Mali during the reign of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, in this case, Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga, has been arrested in a case of alleged fraud. As a reminder, Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga was Prime Minister from 2017 to 2019 before Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown by a military coup, informs Le Figaro.

Regional growth

The general allocation of Special Drawing Rights from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) came into effect on Monday 23 August. With the 3.5 billion dollars that will be allocated to it, Nigeria, the first economy on the African continent since 2014, is overtaken by South Africa which is doing with 4.3 billion dollars. Egypt completes the top three and will be awarded 2.9 billion dollars (2 billion SDR). For their part, the DRC and Morocco come in 4th and 5th position with respectively 1.5 billion and 1.2 billion dollars. Angola, 6th with 1 billion, is ahead of the giant of Uemoa, Côte d'Ivoire, which will receive an amount of 925.6 million dollars. Next come Tunisia (775.8 million), Senegal (460.5 million), Cameroon (393 million), Togo (208.9 million), Chad (199 million), Benin (176.1 million ) and Burkina Faso (171.4 million).

As part of the “Regional Governance of Protected Areas in West Africa” project, funded by the European Union, experts from Burkina, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana held a workshop from August 18 to 20, 2021 in Ouagadougou. The objective was to encourage networking and cooperation between the actors involved in the fight against environmental crime (LCE) around and within the PoMoCo complex (PONASI, Mole National Park, Comoé National Park).