Exchange Market

The dollar was in the hot seat on Thursday after tumbling overnight, especially against the pound sterling and the euro. The greenback weakened 0.6% on the loonie on Wednesday, after the move, but gained ground on the kiwi. The euro plunged below $1.08 after the ECB, a first since 2020. The British pound reached $1.3131 in morning trading, its highest level in a week against the dollar. The dollar index, which measures the dollar against six other currencies, remained at 99.818 after falling 0.52% overnight. The Singapore dollar gained about 0.5% to a one-week high on the dollar after the decision. The Japanese yen was recently at 125.37 per dollar. The Russian ruble weakened on Thursday, falling 2% to 81.50, moving away from its highest level since Nov. 11 of 71 it reached last week.

Cryptomonnaies

Big companies are groping in the field of cryptocurrencies. Four years ago, fast-food chain KFC tweeted from its Canadian account that it would allow bitcoin as a means of payment for its chicken buckets. Other companies, such as Tesla and Dell, offered to sell their products in bitcoins before quietly giving up on these initiatives. According to the specialized site CoinMarketCap, the total value of cryptocurrency assets is more than $ 2 trillion, half of which are bitcoins. Microsoft is one of the big companies that are cautiously advancing in the field of cryptocurrencies. For its part, PayPal has been offering since last year in the United States and the United Kingdom a system to pay in cryptocurrencies through which users' cryptoassets are directly converted into dollars or pounds when they make purchases.

Current markets

The indicators of the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) recorded a decline at the end of the trading session of this Thursday, April 14, 2022. The BRVM Composite Index lost 0.08% to 217.25 points against 217.43 points the day before. The total value of transactions increased from 4.902 billion FCFA on Wednesday, April 13, 2022 to 867.037 million FCFA on Thursday, April 14, 2022. As for the capitalization of the equity market, it stood at 6539.759 billion FCFA against 6545.119 billion FCFA the day before, a decrease of 5.36 billion. That of bonds stood at CFAF 7589.527 billion against CFAF 7597.304 billion the day before, a decrease of CFAF 7.777 billion.  Only the BRVM 10 index is the exception with an increase of 0.25% to 166.59 points against 166.18 points previously.

The Bank Of Africa group presented the balance sheet for the 2021 financial year of its six subsidiaries listed on the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) on April 7 in Abidjan. The overall cumulative performance over three years (2019-2021) of the values of the six subsidiaries (Benin, Niger, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali) of the BOA Group including dividends was between 39% and 61%, i.e. an average annual performance of between 12.8% and 19.4%.

Monet Market

Senegal proceeded, this Friday, to an issue of bonds by auction in the amount of 57 billion. According to the Ministry of Finance and Budget, this operation concerns a maturity of ten years and obtained bids of 68 billion CFA francs, corresponding to a coverage rate of 123%.

Oc côte d'Ivoire received Tuesday, April 12, 2022 the sum of 50 billion FCFA from investors in the WAEMU financial market. This was at the end of a simultaneous issue by auction of assimilable treasury bonds (BAT) of duration 182 days and support and resilience bonds of 364 days. In response to this solicitation, investors offered CFAF 69.5 trillion in global bids. This gives a coverage rate of the amount put out to tender of 139%.

Golgolgol was on the regional financial market on Friday for a search for the sum of  30 billion CFA francs. The securities, with a nominal value of 10,000 FCFA, will have a maturity of 7 years (84 months) and are accompanied by an interest rate of 5.8%. This fundraising will be used to support its economy weakened by the covid-19 health crisis.

At the end of a 7-year Treasury stimulus bond issue(DSB), Burkina Faso raised on the WAEMU financial market the sum of 51.654 billion FCFA. The operation materialized in global bids from investors of 76.705 billion FCFA. This gives a coverage rate of the amount put out to tender of 153.41%.

The central bank has published the new public debt issuance schedule. In the document, it was revealed that Ghana plans to issue 24 billion cedi ($3.24 billion) of bonds in the second quarter. $20 billion would be used to renew maturing bonds, while the remaining $4.5 billion is new issuance to meet the government's financing needs.

The Ministry of Finance of Congo launched this Tuesday, in Kinshasa, an auction operation for treasury bills worth 30 billion FC, or 15 million USD. This auction is six months in due, treasury bills must be subscribed on the same Tuesday, April 12, before 11:00 a.m., Kinshasa time, at the Central Bank of Congo or via internet platforms.

Prime materials

Oil closed higher on Thursday, with Brent barrel rising above the $110 mark, after reports that the European Union is preparing an embargo on Russian crude exports. The barrel of North Sea Brent for delivery in June gained 2.68% to $111.70. The barrel of U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in May advanced 2.58% to $106.95. At the beginning of the morning, prices were down slightly following the publication of US stocks the day before, whose level was above expectations.

The cable is experiencing a bout of weakness resuming its medium-term downward trend by breaking its psychological support at 1.3000. Short-term moving averages are trending lower. Prices could therefore weaken towards the weekly support dating from October 2020 to 1.2846.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report released last week reveals that Côte d'Ivoire has made a breakthrough in the Turkish cotton market.

The report indicates that Turkey would produce 925,000 tons (t) of cotton in 2022/23 while its consumption would be significantly higher, of the order of 1.9 million tons (Mt), up 4.4% compared to the 1.82 Mt estimated over 2021/22. Imports are expected at 1.15 Mt in 2022/23, which is far from negligible. It should be noted that in the first six months of 2021/22, international cotton purchases reached a record 555,678 t. Other important suppliers include Azerbaijan, Australia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Spain and... Ivory Coast.

The Conseil Café Cacao (CCC) of Côte d'Ivoire this week launched the distribution of a magnetic card to all Ivorian producers. The smart card, a bank card and an identification card, includes a QR code that allows you to have the identity of the planter, but also the area of his orchard or the number of people living in his household. The goal is to further control bean flows and allow them to make secure transactions.

Companies

Visa inaugurated its first innovation center in Africa on April 6, 2022 in Nairobi (Kenya). This space dedicated to fintech innovation aims to allow economic actors on the continent to benefit from inclusive solutions for financial services, according to the American payment card giant. "The Sub-Saharan Africa Innovation Center is part of a global network of Visa Innovation Centers scattered around the world. There are twelve like that and the first one has been operational since 2014. Visa continues to invest in these centers as they have shown a real impact on the market.

In african electricity companies intend to play a mobilizing role in priority actions in order to bring about an African electricity market by 2030-2050. Didier Abel Tella, president of the Association of Electricity Companies of Africa (ASEA), reaffirmed Tuesday in Dakar, this ambition. To do this, future actions will take into account the launch of the principle of the African Single Market for Electricity which will place ASEA in a role of mobilizing and implementing priority actions for the advent of this single market by 2030-2035".

Banks and Insurance

The World Bank has approved a $495 million grant for Senegal. This agreement covers 4 projects for infrastructure, electricity, education and economic development. 

BEWAEA announced a 376% increase in its authorized capital, from USD 4.2 billion to USD 20 billion, or 376%. The historic capital increase was unanimously adopted by all 18 sovereign shareholders of the bank, members of the League of Arab States.

The BGFIBank group and the Gabon Energy and Water Company have signed a financing agreement. The first concerns a credit of 40 billion FCFA to support the Gabon Energy and Water Company (SEEG) in the implementation of its investment plan for the period 2022-2025. As for the second, it constitutes a mobilization of funds of 60 billion francs on the sub-regional financial market by BGFIBourse.

Al Barid Bank, Barid Cash & Dirham Express deploy a new solution for receiving international transfers via the Barid Bank Mobile app and barid Cash's mobile app "Barid Pay".  This launch consolidates 10 years of partnership between Al Barid Bank, Barid Cash and Dirham Express during which a common know-how has been developed to implement solutions as close as possible to customer expectations.

The Bank of Ghana (BoG), the central bank published data on commercial bank lending in its March 2022 monetary policy report. The document report indicates that loans granted by Ghana's commercial banks to the private sector and public institutions increased by 8.694 billion CEDIS (about USD 1.15 billion; +18.3%) in February 2022 compared to GH¢ 1.664 billion (about USD 220 million; 3.6%) recorded in February 2021.

Golgolia increased its stake in the capital of the Agency for Trade Insurance in Africa (ACA) at the end of 2021. The country thus becomes the first sovereign shareholder of the institution.

Governance

The international credit rating agency (Fitch) has seen the effectiveness of pandemic response measures, which have supported the strong rebound in economic growth. Thus, Benin achieved an economic performance of 7.2%. This economic growth exceeds pre-Covid levels and previous forecasts.

Regional growth

At the end of a meeting held in Lomé, the Global Fund for Cities Development and the WAEMU Commission announced the creation of a Regional Investment Fund for municipalities in the 8 countries of the Union, including Togo. The Global Fund for Cities Development (GCFD) is an NGO that will enable emerging and developing local authorities to access the external financial resources needed to finance their urban development projects.