The Heads of State of the West African Economic monetary union (WAEMU) have estimated their necessary needs in financial resources at 5,284.9 billion CFA francs, to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic and revive economic activity in the region. They made this known during the extraordinary session, held on Monday 27 April, by videoconference.
"It would result in a worsening of the budget deficit including grants to represent 5.5% of GDP against 2.7% initially planned," notes the final communiqué signed by the president of the conference of heads of state and government, Alassane Ouatarra, browsed by Financial Afrik. In this context, says the same source, the heads of state support the African Union initiative on the debt of African countries.

They also expressed "thanks to all partners", in particular the African Union, the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the G20 for the initiatives that have already been undertaken. Not without inviting them, however, to "support the African continent even more in its fight against the pandemic".

Affected by the pandemic, the Union, which brings together the eight West African states with the CFA franc in common, now expects in 2020" a "significant deterioration with an average growth rate of 2.7%, a reduction of nearly four percentage points compared to the initial forecast of 6.6%", from the same source. 
Speaking at the beginning of the work, Alassane Ouatarra had called on his peers to "act quickly and take measures at the health, economic and social levels, in order to mitigate the consequences of the crisis on our economies and thus reduce the suffering of our fellow citizens".