Foreign exchange market

The euro was slightly weaker this week and was stuck at $1.1005 on fears that the conflict in Ukraine will hurt the European economy by increasing energy and food costs. The yen was heading for its worst week in two years on Friday, weighed down by rising import costs from Japan and low interest rates.

The Swiss franc gained ground the day after the meeting of its central bank, which was less worried than expected about the strength of its currency. Meanwhile, the pound hovered around $1.3190 as traders weighed the cautiously dovish outlook from the Bank of England against February data that showed higher-than-expected inflation. The Russian ruble traded firmly in Moscow overnight following Russian President Vladimir Putin's promise to start selling gas to 'unfriendly' countries in rubles, but returned some gains in thin offshore trading .

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin price continues to show signs of recovery, a trend all the more surprising as the US Federal Reserve (Fed) may raise interest rates more aggressively than expected, which could weigh on financial stocks to which cryptocurrencies are traditionally correlated. As midday approached Wednesday, the first of the cryptocurrencies was trading around $42,200, or 4.4% more than a week earlier.

Stock markets

At the end of the trading session on Thursday, March 24, 2022, the market capitalization of the BRVM equity bond market recorded a sharp increase of 168.606 billion FCFA. That of the equity market amounted to 6551.779 billion FCFA against 6533.018 billion FCFA the day before, an increase of 18.761 billion FCFA. The value of transactions is down compared to the previous day but still remains above 3 billion, standing at 3.296 billion FCFA against 4.861 billion FCFA.

Money Market

Following a simultaneous issue by auction of assimilable treasury bonds (OAT) with a duration of 3 years and 5 years, the Ivorian State collected on March 22, 2022 an amount of 38.5 billion FCFA on the market financial institution of WAEMU. UMOA-Titres, the organizer of the operation, identified 100.697 billion FCFA in overall bids made by investors, representing a coverage rate of the amount auctioned of 287.71%.

On March 24, 2022, Niger raised an amount of CFAF 55 billion in treasury bills and bonds on the WAEMU financial market. The rate of coverage of the amount auctioned is 260.98%.

Togo, at the end of the issue of assimilable Treasury bonds (OAT) with a duration of 5 years carried out at the level of the WAEMU financial market, raised a sum of 30 billion FCFA. With a coverage rate of more than 346% on the issue of treasury bonds, investors offered the issuer global bids of 104.076 billion FCFA.

Nigeria issued a USD 1.25 billion Eurobond on the international capital market. It is the first African country to access this market in 2022. These resources should enable Africa's leading economy to finance its budget and make up for its infrastructure deficits. The offering was launched at an initial price of 8.75% pa and thanks to strong investor demand, Nigeria was able to reverse price direction at 8.5%

Raw materials

Amid concerns about high inflation, lower oil prices and weak consumer confidence data are slowing economic growth. Britain's oil and gas index slid 0.6% on weak crude futures. Petropavlovsk fell nearly 33% after the London-listed gold miner said it would miss an interest payment due on Friday after Britain froze the assets of its main creditor Gazprombank.

In its report dated March 16, 2022, UNCTAD indicates that the economic consequences of the war will affect the poorest populations. Because, in Africa, the UNCTAD report identifies 27 countries that are directly concerned by the wheat issue. They import a good part of their wheat from Russia and/or Ukraine. Benin is entirely dependent on Russia for its wheat supply. The same is true for Madagascar, Cape Verde, Togo, Burundi and Namibia. Countries like Tunisia and Libya are more dependent on Ukraine even though they owe part of their imports to Russia.

In view of this situation the African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced a plan of one billion US dollars to help increase the supply of wheat on the African continent. The fast-track plan aims to boost wheat production in Africa and should be put in place to avert possible food shortages linked to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

In Mali, the cotton harvest reached the historic level of 760,000 tons in 2021/2022. This stock marks a new peak for the sector and eclipses the previous record of 743,000 tonnes achieved in 2017/2018. Mali regains its leading position on the continent through a record production of more than 760,000 tonnes for the 2021-2022 campaign.

Also in Senegal, industrial cotton production recorded an increase of 1.7% in January 2022 excluding ginning. The figures revealed by the National Agency for Statistics and Demography (Ansd) in the Harmonized Index of Industrial Production (Ihpi) for January 2022, show an improvement in industrial production recorded in Senegal in January.

Companies

Baobab Senegal is joining forces with Orange Finances Mobile Senegal (OFMS), a major player in the mobile financial services ecosystem, to launch a 100% digital credit and savings offer: M-Baobab. The two companies now offer their customers with well-identified Orange Money accounts the possibility of directly accessing a loan and/or savings from the Orange Money application or USSD #144#.

African Guarantee Fund (AGF) and Empower New Energy are partnering to boost the solar industry in Africa. The two partners are thus paving the way for long-term investments in renewable energy for commercial and industrial companies in Africa. The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) also provided partial support for the costs of the guarantee.

The French group Meridiam, which specializes in the financing and development of infrastructure, has signed a contract with Senegal for the acquisition and management of electric buses in Dakar, with a view to relieving congestion in this West African metropolis. The 15-year concession contract covers "the acquisition, operation and maintenance of BRT rolling stock and systems".

Airtel Africa is receiving $194 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to support its investment efforts in seven markets on the continent. This investment aims to support the investment needs of the African branch of the Indian telecom group Bharti Airtel in seven markets: Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, the Republic of Congo and Zambia.

The IFC partnering with a group of African and European institutions has launched the Alliance for Entrepreneurship in Africa. This initiative aims to support the private sector, entrepreneurship and the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the continent.

Nestlé has announced a new plan to tackle the risks of child labor in cocoa production. At the heart of this new plan is an innovative income-increasing program aimed at improving the living conditions of cocoa farming families. Nestlé's new plan also supports the Company's efforts to transform its global cocoa supply, to ensure full traceability and segregation of its cocoa ingredients.

Injaro Investment has launched the first local and cedi private equity fund. The Injaro Ghan Venture Fund (IGVCF) is the first local fund domiciled in Ghana and denominated in Ghana cedi. Targeting a size of 150 million cedis (€18,620 million) over ten years, the fund will invest with tickets ranging from 8 to 10 million cedis in companies in key sectors such as agribusiness, education, inclusive financial services , health, business and industrial services.

Société Générale Burkina Faso (SGBF), Harold Coffi, has officially launched a new offer called “Leasing”. This leasing product is 100% marketed for the benefit of businesses and professionals.

Banks and Insurance

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has granted financial support of 127 million dollars to Niger to open up the east of the country. This financing consists of a loan of 71 million dollars and a donation of 56.8 million dollars.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the State of Cameroon to withdraw from the shareholding of Union Bank of Cameroon (UBC) and National Financial Credit (NFC Bank). There is talk of continuing to clean up the national banking sector in accordance with the regulatory provisions of the Central African Banking Commission (CEMAC).

PROPARCO and ECOBANK CÔTE D'IVOIRE exchanged initials during the week to record their partnership to finance small and medium-sized Ivorian companies. It was on the occasion of the presentation ceremony by the Ministry for the Promotion of SMEs, Handicrafts and the Transformation of the Informal Sector, of the projects of the Acceleration and Growth Program for SMEs. The Choose Africa Resilience portfolio guarantees granted by PROPARCO will cover up to 80% of medium-term loans (1.5 billion FCFA or €2.25 million) and up to 50% of short-term loans (2. 4 billion FCFA or 3.6 M€).

The Moroccan insurance group, Wafa Assurance is positioning itself on the reinsurance track. Leader on its land and also operating in six African markets including Egypt, the insurer displays strategic ambitions in reinsurance. He has just recruited an experienced technician, Abdel Wahab Nougaoui, to launch this activity. Within three years, its objective is to cover around ten countries by entering the assistance market.

Governance

Moody's Rating Agency has maintained Senegal's rating at ''Ba3'' and raised the outlook from ''negative'' to ''stable''. This improvement came after Senegal's last sovereign rating review mission. Economic growth should reach 10% in 2023, driven by hydrocarbon production, with the start of operation in 2023 of two major gas and oil projects, Grand Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) and Sangomar''.

Financial crimes

The Cybersecurity Summit, organized by Togo and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), from March 23 to 24, 2022 in Lomé resulted in the Lomé declaration which constitutes a commitment by all for "a space healthy and prosperous cyber". This approach aims to initiate a high-level dialogue, with a view to formulating avenues for cooperation and coordination, to respond to the pressing challenges that all African actors face in terms of cybersecurity.

The General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) detects an embezzlement of nearly 400,000 dollars within the Congolese Ministry of Primary Education. This fund was initially allocated to the organization of the first African school football championship in the Democratic Republic of Congo. For this school competition initiated by the International Federation of Football Association (Fifa) and organized in Kinshasa, the Congolese State provided funding of more than one million dollars. Unfortunately, of the 400,000 dollars, “the finance inspectors discovered” in particular “that of an alleged payment of 120,000 dollars to Transco (public public transport company) for the rental of the buses, only 16,000 were actually handed over to this carrier,” denounced the head of the IGF.

The Central Office for the Repression of Illicit Drug Trafficking (OCRTIS) of Gaya, announces that it has seized, in Niamey in a bus belonging to a passenger transport company, 19 million CFA francs in counterfeit banknotes from Cotonou (Benin) . According to the Nigerien authorities, this seizure is in addition to that of five million counterfeit banknotes operated a few weeks ago by the agents of this same unit (OCRTIS), following the same itinerary and the same modus operandi. Two people of Niger nationality were arrested after this seizure. He is an employee of a bank in Niger and an agent of a public shipping company.

Regional growth

The WAEMU Council of Ministers met on March 18, 2022 at the premises of the Main Agency of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) in Lomé. This meeting, extended to the first heads of regional organizations, welcomed the support measures taken by the regional issuing institution and the current direction of monetary policy. These measures should make it possible to consolidate the economic recovery within the member countries during the year 2022.

The Court of Justice of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) suspended Thursday, March 24 the economic sanctions against Mali. The judicial institution notes that it can order a stay of execution in the event of “emergency”.

Abidjan, the Ivorian economic capital is hosting the 2nd edition of the Cyber Africa Forum on May 9 and 10, 2022. This forum will be held around the theme "Digital Sovereignty and Data Protection, Levers of Economic Growth for the African Continent", an important topic aimed at building digital trust through data protection. The forum will address the emergence of new cybersecurity risks.

As part of the promotion of Japanese investments in Africa, the 8th edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 8) will take place on August 27 and 28 in Tunis. This edition will unfold around three pillars: Economy, Peace and Stability, and Society.

The ^2nd edition of the African Economic and Financial Press Forum (FAPEF) was launched this Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the CRRAE-UMOA hall in Côte d'Ivoire. This high-level meeting is an initiative of Michel Russel Lohoré to promote and enhance development journalism in Africa. Placed under the theme “the challenges of sustainable development in Africa”, FAPEF devoted fruitful debates between journalists, economic and development institutions, economic experts, researchers, companies and students.