Foreign exchange market

After eight consecutive sessions without a decline against the single European currency, the dollar had approached its last peak earlier in the day at 1.1704 dollars reached on March 31, before switching to the publication of the CPI index by the Department of Work at 12:30 GMT. This trend somewhat removes the specter of an imminent tightening of the Fed's monetary policy. The pound sterling, for its part, did not flinch at the good figures for the British economy published by the National Statistics Office (ONS). It climbed to its highest level in a year and a half against the euro. An appreciation supported by the prospect of a slowdown in asset purchases by the Bank of England (BoE).

Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin, recovering, was trying to find the threshold of 45,000 dollars, briefly crossed on Sunday for the first time in almost two months. The cryptocurrency leader gained 1.93% to 44,714 dollars.

Money Market

The Moroccan Capital Market Authority (AMMC) has announced that it has approved, under reference VI/EM/016/2021, a prospectus relating to the issue by Bank Of Africa (BOA) of a perpetual subordinated bond loan with a mechanism for absorbing losses and canceling coupon payments. This loan is made up of two unlisted tranches with a ceiling of 1 billion dirhams, each, specifies the AMMC in a press release. Noting that the subscription period runs from September 06 to September 09, 2021 inclusive.

Stock market

The market capitalization of the bond market of the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) was boosted by 168.634 billion FCFA. It thus amounted to 6937.244 billion FCFA against 6768.610 billion FCFA the day before. Since the beginning of August, this is the first time that the bond market has recorded such a rise. That of the equity market is still in an upward dynamic, rising from 5110.045 billion FCFA the day before to 5123.312 billion FCFA at the end of the trading day of August 12. The total value of the transactions was indeed established at 1.285 billion FCFA against 186.573 million FCFA the day before. The situation of the indices is contrasted at the end of the day. The BRVM 10 index (the index of the 10 flagship stocks of the Stock Exchange) thus recorded a slight decline of 0.03% to 136.72 points against 136.76 points the day before. For its part, the BRVM Composite index (the general stock market index) gained 0.26% to 170.24 points against 169.80 points the day before.

Raw materials

Oil on the rise despite the call from the foot of the White House to OPEC. The price of black gold had first been dragged down due to criticism from the White House against the policy of the cartel of producers made up of the thirteen members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their ten allies, commonly referred to as OPEC+.

The rise in the prices of non-energy raw materials exported by the countries of the Union concerns in particular coffee (+8.7% against -0.5%), rubber (+6.4% against -3.8%) , gold (+5.2% against +2.4%), palm oil (+4.6% against +4.8% ), cashew nuts (+3.1% against +3 8%) and palm kernel oil (+2.8% against -0.2%).

Angola plans to commission six more oil rigs by the end of the first half of 2022. Speaking at the opening of his ministry's sixth advisory council, Diamantino de Azevedo said that new rigs will forms would be added to the four others already operational. Six in number, these fall within the framework of the strategy aimed at reversing the current situation of a sharp drop in production.

The Executive Secretariat of the Côte d'Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative will be permanently housed in Accra. The headquarters agreement was signed on Thursday, August 05, 2021. This agreement aims for the effective payment of the decent income differential which is a premium of 400 US dollars (200,000 FCFA) per ton paid directly to the producer, making it possible to reach approximately 13% against 6% received until then by the producing countries on the 106 billion US Dollars (53,000 billion FCFA) generated annually by the cocoa business.

The government of Niger has officially granted four (4) mining research permits (for gold) to the Djado Gold Niger Company. According to the agreement, the company must invest a minimum of $3,450,000. Permits have been obtained for “Dissilak 14, 19, 25 and Djado 21” located in the Bilma department (Agadez region).

Companies

The mobile telecommunications company and internet service provider in Namibia, Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) has announced that it has commercially launched the Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) communications technology. This is in the context of improving its internet services in the country. VSAT provides mobile backbone services where it has no backhaul to serve mobile towers.

On August 24, the shareholders of the African Rubber Plantation Company (SAPH) will receive an overall net dividend of 3.381 billion FCFA, for the 2020 financial year. The announcement was made by the managers of this company based in Abidjan. They also specify that this net dividend per share, compared to the 25,558,005 shares that make up the capital of the company, amounts to 132.3 FCFA. The last dividend paid by SAPH dates back to 2017.

Soon Uber Technologies Inc drivers will be able to purchase cars throughout the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Mobility fintech startup, Moove Africa has raised $23 million Series A to boost its automotive investment in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the vehicle fleet manager in Africa, this fundraiser will provide financing to drivers of Uber Technologies Inc.

According to the activity report drawn up at the end of the first quarter of 2021 compared to the first quarter of 2020, the net result of Palm Côte d'Ivoire recorded an increase of 77%. This increase is justified by the rise in prices by 13% and the quantities of crude palm oil sold by 10% over the period. PalmCI's result stood at 12.134 billion FCFA against 6.848 billion FCFA as of March 31, 2020.

Sanlam and MTN Group have entered into a strategic partnership to develop Insurtech in Africa. According to information published on Financial Afrik, the South African insurer will offer the South African telecom operator its services via mobile phone. This new agreement will allow the two partners to sell important insurance products in Africa via digital.

Banks and Insurance

The Boards of Directors of the World Bank Group have approved the audited financial statements for the period from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. The Group's commitments reached $84.3 billion in fiscal year 2021, i.e. 47,212.11 billion FCFA. World Bank Group support in fiscal year 2021 included $4.7 billion in newly approved funding for vaccines benefiting 54 countries. Despite the high level of commercial activity, the World Bank Group continued to maintain fiscal prudence, with a reduction in gross administrative expenses in fiscal year 2021 compared to fiscal year 2020.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will now be able to count on the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (Bidc) for the provision of reliable data on the socio-economic situation in the community space. The first editions of the "Perspectives de développement en Afrique de l'Ouest" (PDAO), and of the quarterly bulletin called "Rendez-vous" were officially launched under the auspices of George Agyekum Donkor, President of the bank and Chairman of the Board of administration. The launch of the Bank's knowledge tools aims to strengthen the debate on the socio-economic situation of the sub-region, to inform and bring value to ECOWAS Member States.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has launched a transaction guarantee instrument. This tool has been designed to provide up to 100% cover for the risk of non-payment to regional and international banks, for commercial transactions initiated by local banks in Africa.

The banking group invites African entrepreneurs in the Fintech sector to join the 2021 edition of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge competition, the fourth of its kind. Applications are open to start-ups and developers from the 54 countries of Africa, as well as international fintechs with Africa as their anchor until September 20, 2021. The Ecobank Fintech Challenge competition is part of as part of the bank's commitment to promote the rise of digital by giving African start-ups the opportunity to promote their fintech solutions. The objective that the banking group wishes to achieve with this competition is to defend digitization.

Anxious to offer the best quality of service to its customers, Attijariwafa bank opens funds in 2 hours for its money transfers to Morocco. Attijariwafa bank Europe has improved its money transfer services with faster availability of funds. The bank wants to ensure a reinforced level of security, in order to facilitate the return of MREs to Morocco and thus allow them to enjoy their summer holidays with peace of mind.

Governance

Côte d'Ivoire celebrated on Saturday August 7, 2021 in sobriety, the 61st anniversary of its accession to independence. In his message to the nation, President Alassane Dramane Ouattara announced a new social program for the welfare of his fellow citizens. Despite the results of the years spent at the head of the state, presented as brilliant by analysts, Alassane Dramane Ouattara intends to continue his fight.

Financial crimes

The meetings follow one another at the headquarters of the Mauritanian Financial Investigation Unit (UMEF), the center for the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism (AML/FT) in Mauritania. Dissemination workshops alternate to maintain the momentum of awareness and consolidation of achievements. The country recorded encouraging results in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing in November 2020.

In the first 7 months of 2021, losses from theft, hacks and fraud in “decentralized finance” or DeFi, a thriving segment of the cryptocurrency industry, reached an all-time high. Losses from crime across the entire cryptocurrency market fell sharply to $681 million at the end of July, from $1.9 billion for all of 2020 and $4.5 billion in 2019.

Regional growth

The Interparliamentary Committee of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) opened its 48th ^ordinary session. During the 10 days that the session will last, parliamentarians will debate the challenges and perspectives of the institution in terms of community development. For this new meeting placed under the theme: "the transposition of community directives in the member states of WAEMU: what role for parliamentarians?" », it is for parliamentarians to reflect on the functioning of the community institution, in particular the legal status of the CIP, the challenges and prospects of the transition towards the installation of the UEMOA parliament, as well as to take stock of the execution of the 2021 budget of the CIP as of July 31, 2021.

The delegation of the Council of Territorial Communities of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (CCT-UEMOA) held a working session with Abdoulaye Diop, President of the UEMOA Commission. On the occasion, it was question for the president of the CCT to present the activities of the organ of which he has the presidency.

For three days, the members of the National Committee for the Facilitation of Road Transport and Transit received training on transport and road transit facilitation instruments in the ECOWAS/UEMOA region. Organized by the National Facilitation Committee (CNF), this training received technical and financial support from the World Bank Group. It is part of the implementation of the project to support the competitiveness of logistics services for trade, the development objective of which is to improve the efficiency of logistics services. The overall objective is to train the members on the basic principles relating to the facilitation of road transit and trade transport and to enable them to carry out their functions and attributions within the committee.

According to data from the Banking Commission based in Abidjan, the Decentralized Financial Systems (SFD) of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU) falling under article 44 of the law regulating DFS (level of activity reaching a threshold of 2 billion FCFA of outstanding deposits and loans) posted a balance sheet total of 2,561.044 billion FCFA at the end of 2020. According to the Banking Commission, this increase is linked to the evolution of assets in Côte d'Ivoire (+16.4%), in Burkina (+14.3%), in Niger (+12.5%), in Mali (+9.1%), in Benin (+6.3%), in Togo (+5.7%) and in Senegal (+4.5%). Concerning DFS uses, they increased, in annual variation, by 5.6%, to reach 1,773.1 billion FCFA at the end of 2020.