In this respect, the Bceao has opened a special three-month refinancing window to enable banks to
refinance these bonds. This operation takes place on the Union's money market in this way, which we
we will try to explain to you in this issue.
Different from the public market and the stock market, the money market is the place where institutions
authorized financial institutions exchange liquidity with the Central Bank or between themselves. In the Uemoa zone,
this market is made up of the intervention counters of the BCEAO and the interbank.
The Bceao intervenes on this market to provide or take up liquidity in order to control rates
interest charged on the interbank.
Central Bank interventions relate to open market operations, refinancing on
permanent counters and the intraday advance counter.
Let us first specify that an open market operation is a sale or purchase operation, by a bank
securities, mainly government securities, on a market open to private investors.
Open market sales are an integral part of monetary policy, since they allow the
central bank to manage the volume of money and credit in the economy.
Calls for tenders or open market operations are the Bank's main means of intervention.
Central and are conducted through the sale, reverse repurchase or reverse repurchase agreement of securities or notes.
They include the main liquidity injection operations with a maturity of one week, maturities
between one (1) and twelve (12) months, cash withdrawal operations, operations
one-off adjustment operations and temporary or definitive sale of securities on the market
interbank.
In addition to the window for calls for tenders, the Central Bank has set up permanent windows (windows for
marginal lending, special refinancing window and intraday advance window) with a view to providing, at
on demand, additional liquidity to eligible credit institutions.
On the marginal lending window, the Bceao offers refinancing possibilities on a maturity between
between one (1) and seven (7) days while on the special refinancing window, eligible counterparties
can benefit from advances on maturities ranging from three (3) to twelve (12) months.
For its part, the window for intraday advances is available to participants to allow them
to meet cash requirements during a trading day. Advances on this window are
repayable the same day and do not bear interest.
Access to the Central Bank's refinancing counters is reserved for credit institutions and
community institutions provided for in article 22 of the UMOA Treaty, subject to compliance with the provisions
prudential applicable to banks and financial institutions as well as that governing the system of
mandatory reserves.
Refinancing by the issuing institution is backed by public or private bills and securities taken into
guarantee.

As part of the implementation of the measures taken by the BCEAO to counter the negative impacts
of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Central Bank has decided to support Member States in issuing
Treasury bills, called "Covid-19 Bonds", specifies Notice No. 006-04-2020, published by the institution
financial, on April 21.
These bonds, with a maturity of three months, will be issued on the regional financial market and will be used to meet
immediate expenses related to the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The BCEAO, with the assistance of
the Umoa-Titres Agency will proceed with the structuring and programming of these issues.
A special three-month refinancing window is opened by the BCEAO to allow banks to
refinance these bonds. Indeed, on this special counter, the banks will be able to have liquidity with the
Central Bank for a maturity of three months, at a fixed rate of 2.50%.
Covid-19 vouchers could be subject to refinancing on the special window from the day of issue and
no later than one month after their acquisition for the remaining duration of the title.
Through this decision, the Central Bank intends to support States in mobilizing resources
low-cost financial resources to solve difficulties caused by the health crisis linked to Covid-19.
However, it should be noted that for the “Covid-19 vouchers” structured by the Bceao, they are not
accounted for in the rule of 35% of bank jobs for access to bank refinancing
central and can be accepted immediately upon issue. They are therefore very liquid, hence the enthusiasm of the banks
for their subscription.