According to data from the Abidjan-based Banking Commission, the West African Monetary Union (WAMU) Decentralized Financial Systems (DFS) under Article 44 of the DFS Regulation Act (level of activity reaching a threshold of CFAF 2 billion outstanding deposits and loans) posted a balance sheet total of CFAF 2,561.044 billion at the end of 2020.

The financial and statistical data analysed by the Commission concern 182 DFS, i.e. 96.8% of large institutions. Compared to 2019 when it stood at CFAF 2,347.851 billion, the balance sheet total of these SFDs is up 9.1%. According to the Banking Commission, this increase is in line with the evolution of assets in Côte d'Ivoire (+16.4%), Burkina Faso (+14.3%), Niger (+12.5%), Mali (+9.1%), Benin (+6.3%), Togo (+5.7%) and Senegal (+4.5%). Regarding the uses of SFDs, they increased, in annual variation, by 5.6%, to reach 1,773.1 billion FCFA at the end of 2020. Customer loans represent 81.7% as in 2019. Financial fixed assets accounted for 2.2% of jobs during the period under review compared to 2.5% a year earlier. As for other jobs (investment securities, other fixed assets and various jobs), their share came out at 16.1% against 15.9% in 2019.

Customer loans consolidated by 5.6%, year-on-year, to 1,447.9 billion FCFA at the end of 2020. They consist of short-term loans, medium-term loans, long-term loans, outstanding receivables and leasing operations. Short-term loans amounting to CFAF 634.2 billion, or 43.8% of total loans, recorded a slight annual decrease of 0.5%. For their part, medium-term loans amounted to CFAF 393.8 billion during the period under review. <<Topped 27.2% of the appropriations, they showed an annual decline of 7.9% >>, says the Commission. As far as they are concerned, long-term loans are estimated at CFAF 301.5 billion at the end of 2020, or 20.8% of all loans. They grew by 14.6% year-on-year.