The results of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) survey on bank conditions reveal a slight decline in lending rates in the WAEMU zone in August.

The lending rates applied by banks in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) fell by 0.01 percentage points in August 2021 compared to the previous month. According to the BCEAO, excluding charges and taxes, the borrowing rate in the Union came out at 6.20% in August 2021 against 6.21% the previous month. As for the deposit interest rates on term deposits, they stood at 5.23% in August 2021, the same level as in the previous month. On the regional money market, the average amount of bids on the weekly auction window was 3,285.2 billion CFA francs during the period under review against 3,411.8 billion CFA francs in July 2021, a decrease of 3.71% over one month. The BCEAO points out that auctions have been carried out since 31 March 2020 at a fixed rate, namely the minimum interest rate for bidding on calls for tenders, which has been reduced from 2.50% to 2.0% as of 24 June 2020. Under the WAEMU interbank market, the average weekly volume of operations, all maturities combined, stood at CFAF 434.4 billion in August 2021, down 5.9% compared to July.