Dakar, Dec 19 (APS) – The regional financial market of the West African Monetary Union (Umoa) has made it possible to mobilize a significant amount in value of approximately 11,000 billion FCFA since the first issue of raising resources in 1998, said Thursday, Mamadou Ndiaye, president of the Regional Council for Public Savings and Financial Markets (CREMF).

''The annual amount of resources raised has evolved in stages of about 150 billion per year until 2010, followed by an annual average of more than 500 billion FCFA per year during the five years that followed,'' he said, during the official ceremony to launch the general review of the basic texts of the regional financial market of the West African Monetary Union (Umoa).

He noted that since 2011, the market has raised an average of 1,100 billion FCFA per year.

Regarding market leaders, in particular approved players, their number increased from 97 in 2013 to 214 at the end of September 2019, i.e. more than double the increase during this period, underlined Mr. Ndiaye.

''This increase is driven by players in collective management, in particular Mutual Funds, which increased by 64 new funds over the period, going from 39 to 103'', he explained.

According to him, ''stock market capitalization has represented an annual average, over the last three years, of 14.78% of the Union's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with average outstanding bond issues of 38.5% of loans to medium and long term to the economy.

''These indicators, certainly encouraging, bear witness to the progress that remains to be made to unleash the full potential of the Regional Financial Market'', he underlined, considering that ''this is all there is at stake in this exercise of general review of the basic texts aimed at further modernizing the framework for exercising market activities and making it even more attractive''.

The general review of the basic texts of the WAMU "should therefore allow the regional financial market to carry out the missions and the reasons which led to its establishment two decades ago", he said. .

Mamadou Ndiaye cited the increase in the volume of savings mobilized to ''improve his remuneration while reducing the cost of financing for companies''.

There is also the need to find alternative solutions to the problems of financing the economies of the Member States of the Union and the concern to promote financial instruments adapted to our realities and allowing safe, profitable and liquid investments.

The West African Monetary Union (UMOA) is characterized by the recognition of the same monetary unit, the Franc of the African Financial Community (F.CFA), the issue of which is entrusted to the BCEAO.

WAMU currently includes: Benin, Burkina, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

The Regional Council for Public Savings and Financial Markets (CREPMF) is an organ of the West African Monetary Union (UMOA).

Created on July 3, 1996 by decision of the WAMU Council of Ministers, as part of the establishment of the regional financial market for which it oversees, it is responsible for a general mission of protecting savings invested in transferable securities and any other investment giving rise to a public offering procedure in all the Member States of the Union.