According to data from the Abidjan-based Banking Commission, the Decentralized Financial Systems (DFS) of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU) falling under article 44 of the law on the regulation of DFS (level of activity reaching a threshold of 2 billion CFA francs of outstanding deposits and loans) had a total balance sheet of 2,561.044 billion CFA francs at the end of the year.(level of activity reaching a threshold of CFAF 2 billion in outstanding deposits and loans) had total assets of CFAF 2,561.044 billion at the end of 2020.

The financial and statistical data analyzed by the Commission concerns 182 SFDs, i.e. 96.8% of large institutions. Compared to 2019, when it stood at CFAF 2,347.851 billion, the total balance sheet of these SFDs is up by 9.1%. According to the Banking Commission, this increase is linked to the evolution of assets in Côte d'Ivoire (+16.4%), Burkina (+14.3%), Niger (+12.5%), Mali (+9.1%), Benin (+6.3%), Togo (+5.7%) and Senegal (+4.5%). As regards the uses of the SFDs, they increased, in annual variation, by 5.6%, to reach CFAF 1 773.1 billion at the end of 2020. Loans to customers accounted for 81.7%, as in 2019. Financial fixed assets totaled 2.2% of uses during the period under review, compared with 2.5% a year earlier. Other assets (investment securities, other fixed assets and miscellaneous assets) accounted for 16.1%, compared with 15.9% in 2019.

Loans to customers were consolidated by 5.6%, on an annual basis, to stand at CFAF 1,447.9 billion at the end of 2020. They are made up of short-term loans, medium-term loans, long-term loans, overdue loans and leasing operations. Short-term credits amounted to CFAF 634.2 billion, i.e. 43.8% of total credits, and recorded a slight annual decrease of 0.5%. For their part, medium-term credits amounted to 393.8 billion FCFA during the period under review. <<Totaling 27.2% of credits, they have shown an annual decline of 7.9%>>, says the Commission. As far as they are concerned, long-term credits are estimated at 301.5 billion FCFA at the end of 2020, or 20.8% of all credits. They have grown by 14.6% in annual rate.