In its report on monetary policy in Uemoa, the BCEAO analyzed the liquidity of banks in the Union. According to the document, during the first quarter of 2021, the own liquidity of Uemoa banks, defined as the cash flow of banks excluding BCEAO refinancing, strengthened by 820.2 billion to stand at -2.165.5 billion at the end of

“This favourable development is the result of the positive impact of net transfer balances received from abroad (+875.3 billion) as well as transactions with the Treasury and other factors (+202.7 billion). However, it was moderated by the increase of 257.8 billion in net cash outflows from bank counters,” reports the BCEAO. Over the same period, faced with a significant improvement in their own liquidity, banks reduced their requests at the Central Bank's refinancing counters by 789.8 billion. Indeed, the amount of refinancing granted by the Bceao to banks rose from 5.793.8 billion at the end of December 2020 to 5.004.0 billion at the end of March 2021

In line with these developments, bank liquidity rose by 30.4 billion to 2.839.6 billion at the end of March 2021 from 2.809.3 billion at the end of December 2020. At an annual rate, it consolidated by 622.3 billion, resulting from the improvement of banks' own liquidity by 780.7 billion, which led to a withdrawal of 158.4 billion from the BCEAO counters. 2021 amounted to 865.2 billion. Over the same period, the reserves set up by banks stood, on average, at 2.457.1 billion, exceeding the minimum regulatory level required by 1.591.9 billion