On the financial planet, the Covid-19 pandemic is not saving anyone. However, far from
spectacular falls in Western financial centers, West African stock exchanges maintain.
Together with his African counterparts, the Director General of the Regional Stock Exchange
(BRVM) which is based in Abidjan, Edoh Kossi Amenounve is already preparing for the post-crisis period. Maintenance.
As everywhere else in the world, Africa is facing a double shock, health and economic. Start
In April 2020, 31 out of 54 countries had closed their borders to curb the coronavirus pandemic, accentuating
thus the economic difficulties. However, in the midst of global stock market tempete, the stock exchanges

The Bourse regionale des valeurs mobilieres (BRVM), created in 1996, is responsible for coordinating
Scholarships common to eight countries in the region: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger,
Senegal and Togo.Its director general since 2012, togolese Edouard Kossi Amenounve, is already preparing
supporting the African economy after the health crisis.
France 24: What steps have you taken to ensure the continuity of stock market operations?
Edoh Kossi Amenounve: We have activated our plan to maintain our activity of the confirmation of
first cases of contamination on the continent. The particularity of this crisis being its health character,
our first priority was to ensure the safety of the staff, by initiating the work procedure a
distance for non-operational agents before generalizing it to all staff.
Our teams (about sixty people) in charge of listing, monitoring transactions and
of the regulation/delivery, deployed to their homes, have been able to open, administer and close the market since
when as if they were at the headquarters of the BRVM.
We have also adjusted the quotation times (9 a.m. to 2 p.m. instead of 3 p.m.) to adapt to
measures taken by the State of Côte d'Ivoire, in particular with regard to curfews. Finally, we develops a number of communication and awareness tools for all our
partners aiming to reassure them of our ability to continue our activities during this period of crisis.
Is there a backup plan for your data?
The BRVM has a data backup plan that has been in operation for several years. Ce
system provides real-time replication of all data including all transactions
on a relief site far from the headquarters, in particular in another WAEMU State [Economic and
West African monetary, which brings together the eight countries of the BRVM, Editor's note]. It works properly. We
Since last year, we have also begun to carry out due diligence to fold our data towards a
Cloud. All the investments necessary for this purpose have been made. So we will very quickly,
by June 2020, switch our backup plan to the cloud, which will ensure accessibility to all
market data at reduced costs.
What are the reactions of the marches since the arrival of the pandemic in your home?
The first case of people testing positive for Covid-19 in Africa was announced on February 14, 2020 and
concerning WAEMU, 2 March 2020. Since then, African capital markets have not had <> reactions of the same magnitude as those recorded at the level of the American, European and stock exchanges asian.
Some African stock exchanges such as those of Casablanca (Masi) and Lagos which recorded, on the other hand,
declines of 21% and 13.6% respectively in one week. As for the BRVM, the decline is less
magnitude with an average weekly decline of about 1.88% during the month of March 2020.