Foreign exchange market

This Friday, the British pound suffered from a disappointing indicator in the United Kingdom. It yielded 0.21% to 1.3571 dollars for one pound and 0.45% to 83.55 pence for one euro. The euro took 0.23% to 1.1338 dollars for one euro. After benefiting at the end of 2021 from the prospect of a tightening of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy, the greenback is struggling to make a lasting comeback. The Dollar Index edged down 0.1% on the day to 95.655. The Swiss franc, for its part, benefited from its status as a safe haven and gained 0.31% to 1.0966 Swiss francs for one euro. The Aussie and Kiwi both fell more than 0.5% against the dollar, last at $0.71860 and $0.67100. The Swiss franc strengthened 0.4% to 0.91350 francs per dollar, while the yen gained up to 0.4% to 113.625 yen per dollar.

Cryptocurrencies

At the end of the week, bitcoin suffered from risk aversion and fell 5.7% to 38,988 dollars.

The Russian central bank has proposed to ban the use and mining of cryptocurrencies on Russian territory, citing threats to financial stability, the well-being of citizens and the sovereignty of its monetary policy. The bank proposed to block financial institutions from transacting with cryptocurrencies and said mechanisms should be developed to block transactions to buy or sell cryptocurrencies for fiat, or traditional currencies. The proposed ban includes cryptocurrency exchanges.

Stock markets

The market capitalization of the bond market of the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) recorded an increase of 16.433 billion FCFA at the end of the trading session of this Wednesday, January 19, 2022. This capitalization stood at 7297.922 billion FCFA against 7281.922 billion the day before. That of shares stands at 6104.045 billion FCFA against 6103.908 billion FCFA the day before, an increase of 137 million FCFA. The total value of transactions amounted to 283.154 million FCFA against 738.273 million the day before. The BRVM 10 index fell by 0.39% to 155.81 points. That of the composite BRVM, on the other hand, is in a stationary situation at 202.7 points.

Money Market

For its first exit on the financial market in 2022, Togo recorded a stroke of success with an issue of 27.5 billion CFA francs. The operation aimed to raise, via an issue of Bonds Assimilables du Trésor (BAT), an amount of 25 billion FCFA. For this first outing, investors have once again reiterated their confidence, with more than 77 billion FCFA in bids, i.e. a coverage rate of more than 300%. The Treasury finally retained only 27.5 billion. The bonds, with a nominal value of 1 million FCFA, have a maturity of 06 months.

Raw materials

Neutralized by rising US inventories, oil prices eased on Friday, ending a string of strong daily gains in a market with little appetite for risky assets. The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in March lost 1.37% to 87.17 dollars. In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in March yielded 1.47% to 84.29 dollars. Shortly after the publication of the EIA report, Brent had even reached 89.50 dollars a barrel, its new high since October 2014. The fall in prices on Friday interrupts an almost daily series of price increases since the start of the year, for both North Sea Brent and WTI.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari announced on Tuesday during the official commissioning ceremony of the new mega-pyramid rice fields that the country's rice production had increased to more than 7.5 million tons a year.

Companies

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Egypt (ADCB) recently announced that it has increased its capital from EGP 1.5 billion (USD 96 million) to EGP 5 billion (USD 319 million), an increase of 233%. It complies with the 2020 regulations which set the minimum capital for banks operating in the Egyptian market at USD 319 million.

Through critical infrastructure development, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) successfully raised US$400 million in a new syndicated loan for post-pandemic recovery. The three-year facility had an initial objective of US$300 million, an oversubscription of an additional US$100 million thanks to the strong interest shown by investors.

The Senegalese nugget PAPS, specialized in transport and logistics, has just achieved a great feat by announcing that it has mobilized 4.5 million USD, or 2.6 billion FCFA from large groups of investors. This fundraising will enable thousands of African companies to use PAPS technology to gain access to global and integrated world-class logistics.

Tolaro Global, a company specializing in the processing and wholesale of cashew nuts, has made an investment of 10.2 million dollars, or 5.8 billion CFA francs in the cashew nut sector. This investment will extend over three years and will allow the company to expand its factory and intensify its cashew processing and sales activity.

Pursuing its objective of expanding throughout the West African region, International Drilling Company (IDC), a West African drilling company, announced on Tuesday 18 January that it has raised funds from Adiwale Partners, a private equity fund management. The objective of this capital mobilization is to ensure the company's expansion and its ambition to become the leader in drilling in West Africa. This fundraising will also allow IDC to acquire new drilling machines and continue its expansion in French-speaking West Africa over the next five years.

Casino invests in all means of communication and the e-commerce revolution is available in new media. After the computer and applications on telephones, Facebook and Instagram, it's the turn of WhatsApp, encrypted instant messaging that combines the Internet and mobile telephony. The Casino group is experimenting with this feature starting this Wednesday. The process is mainly used for repair or additional shopping. Club users now have the possibility of making purchases on an ad hoc basis, not only on the dedicated website but also on WhatsApp.

Banks and Insurance

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is setting up a tool for remote data collection and analysis. This initiative is part of the “Remote Appraisal, Supervision, Monitoring and Evaluation, of Operation Projects” (RASME) project. The launch of this project was followed by training for partners on remote data collection and analysis.

Also, the Pan-African Bank and Côte d'Ivoire concluded an agreement on December 21, 2021 for the financing of the economic and social reform support program (PARES). This loan agreement of 19,823,000,000,540 FCFA was ratified by the government in the Council of Ministers, Wednesday January 19, 2022 in Abidjan. This support is part of the second phase of the PARES 2 program, according to government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly.

The West African Development Bank (BOAD) has announced that it has signed a series of insurance policies, intended to secure its commitments and its capacity to mobilize resources. As part of the policy of active management of its balance sheet, this approach, according to the press release made available to the media, will allow the development banking institution to rely on ratings from 'A' to 'AA ' specialized insurers based in London and Paris. BOAD will thus share, through this subscription, part of its exposure to the risk of non-reimbursement of its debtors and will then benefit from the possibility of increasing its capacity to mobilize resources for the benefit of its Member States and the private sector of the country. WAEMU.

The financial rating agency, Fitch Ratings has affirmed the long-term issuer default rating (IDR) of United Bank for Africa Senegal SA (UBA SEN) at 'B-', with a stable outlook. For the rating agency, the quality of the bank's assets has been weak, although the quality ratios of the main assets have improved and the base capitalization is limited, among other things. In addition, UBA Senegal's viability rating has been affected by the poor development of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) region where it operates.

Deutsche Bank is financing the expansion of West Africa's largest market. It closed last week a new loan facility to finance the second part of the Kumasi Market Redevelopment Project in Ghana, in cooperation with the UK Export Finance Agency (UKEF) and the African Export-Import Bank ( Afreximbank). The €184 million financing consists of a €145 million loan backed by UKEF and a €39 million commercial loan provided by Afreximbank.

Financial crimes

In FIM FM's Mirador program, Wednesday January 19, 2022, Dr. Ousmane Kaba spoke out on the corruption he called "endemic" and misappropriation that characterized the Alpha Condé regime. Ousmane Kaba suggests to the junta in power to recover funds embezzled by state agents. He recalls that a dozen or twenty people have staggering sums in private accounts. According to him, the Guinean State does not have half of what it should have collected in terms of mining taxes because of tax evasion in the mining sector.

The Republican police arrested three individuals for possession of counterfeit banknotes. It was in the department of Borgou, in eastern Benin. This is a case of 150,000 CFA francs between two individuals already placed in police custody.

The Complaints and Denunciations Analysis and Processing Unit (Cpd) has been set up at the Presidency of the Republic for any act or fact that may harm the general interest. This new system, which was created at the end of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday January 19, 2022, allows ordinary citizens to denounce acts of corruption.

Regional growth

The organizers of the Inter-African Trade Fair (IATF) announce the opening of registrations for the 2023 edition in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. This event is open to actors from the world of commerce, investors, rulers, African entrepreneurs. The opening of subscriptions was made on Friday January 14, 2022 in Accra, Ghana during a press conference held virtually and in person.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published on Wednesday, January 19, 2022, its report entitled ''Investment Trends Monitor''. The document indicates that global flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) showed a strong rebound in 2021. In the sub-Saharan region, flows showed a rise of 200%. According to the report, these flows reached around 88 billion dollars (50,908 billion CFA francs), against 29 billion dollars (16,747 billion CFA francs) in 2020, exceeding their pre-COVID-19 level. At the continental level, African flows of foreign direct investment jumped by 147% reaching a total of 97 billion dollars, or 56,017 billion CFA francs.

The population of the French-speaking world, which had reached the 500 million mark at the end of 2018, can be estimated at 536.1 million on January 1, 2022, according to detailed demographic statistics published last July by the PRB (Population Reference Bureau). . That is an increase of nearly 2.3% over one year (524.1 million at the start of 2021), and a population widening the gap with that of the whole constituted by the European Union.