The Monetary Policy Committee (CPM) of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) held its meeting on March ¹, 2023. In the end, he decided to 25 basis points. This is the main policy rate at which the Central Bank lends its resources to banks to bring it to 3.00%, as of March 16, 2023.

The interest rate on marginal lending rose from 4.75% to 5.00%. This increase is the first in 2023 and the fourth since June 2022. It is part of the gradual normalization of the Central Bank's monetary policy and will help bring inflation back into the Central Bank's target range (1% to 3%) over the medium term. The inflation rate in the Union was 6.0% in January 2023 after 7.0% in December 2022.

In reality, the observed decline was supported by the good results of the 2022/2023 agricultural season as well as by the monetary policy measures taken by the Central Bank and the efforts of the States to combat the cost of living. But the inflation rate rose above 7.0% in January 2023 in several countries of the Union. For its part, core inflation, which measures the evolution of the general level of prices excluding fresh products and energy, remained at a high level of 4.7% in January 2023 after 4.8% in December 2022.

Noted that liquidity remains adequate and should allow banks to continue financing economies at the level of the Union banking sector.