In its "Monthly Bulletin of Statistics-August 2019", the Bceao notes a contrasting evolution of
prices of raw materials exported by WAEMU countries.
'Crude oil prices on international markets (WTI average, BRENT, DUBAI), expressed in
US dollar, recorded a year-on-year decline of 19.5% in August 2019.
As for the prices of the main raw materials exported by the WAEMU countries, they experienced
contrasting annual trends during the month under review. They were down for the coton (- 29.8%), cashew (-26.6%), and café (-13.4%)", informs bceao.
On the other hand, prices were upwards for gold (+24.8%), rubber (+2.2%) and cacao
(+0.9%). As regards the main food products imported by the countries of the Union, their prices are
relatively stable at the end of August 2019.
On monetary policy, the main central banks maintained their key rates
unchanged during the month of August 2019.
The main international stock market indices recorded contrasting developments at the end of August 2019, in year-on-year.
Declines were observed in the Nikkei 225 (-9.5%), the Nasdaq Composite (-5.2%), the DAX
(-3.3%) and the Footsie 100 (-3.0%). On the other hand, an increase was noted for the Dow Jones (+4.7%),
the CAC 40 (+1.4%), the EuroStoxx50 (+1.0%) and the Standard&Poor's 500 (+0.9%).
On the foreign exchange market, the European currency depreciated year-on<-year against the yen/> Japanese (-9.1%), the US dollar (-5.3%) and the Chinese yuan (-0.9%). On the other hand, it appreciated by
0.9% against the pound sterling.