Foreign exchange market

Europe's single currency fell 2.1% this week, and was expected to have its worst week since April 2020. It was down 0.5% at $1.1010 at 0850 GMT, near its lowest level since May. 2020. Against the British pound, the euro also hit its lowest level of 82.61 pence since July 2016. It touched its lowest level since January 2015 at 1.0114 against the safe haven Swiss franc.

The Dollar Index rose 0.36% to 98.073, after touching its highest level since June 2020 against a basket of peers. Elsewhere, the Aussie dollar continued higher, helped by the commodities boom, and rose 0.6% to a four-month high of $0.7370 against the US dollar.

The yen briefly rose against the dollar when news of the fire broke, but then gave up those gains and was little changed at 115.37 per dollar.

Cryptocurrencies

East Africa's leading economy plans to launch a digital version of the Kenyan Shilling, the local currency. The central bank released a digital currency discussion paper this week to seek public feedback on the initiative.

As mainstream cryptocurrency adoption continues to grow, the need for crypto education cannot be overstated. The world's leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, Binance is hosting its first offline event for crypto enthusiasts in Ivory Coast.

In addition, the bitcoin cryptocurrency started the month of March with an increase of +5.62% to 43,996.05 dollars.

Stock markets

The Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) market begins March 2022 with a drop in its flagship indices. This sluggishness of the flagship indices of the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) still persists. The market is marked by a decline which continues at the end of the trading session of March 2, 2022. The BRVM composite index thus recorded a drop of 0.90% to 216.83 points against 218.79 points the day before. . As for the BRVM 10 index, it lost 1.36% to 167.37 points against 169.68 points previously. This drop in indices negatively affected the stock market capitalization of the equity market which recorded a drop of 59.033 billion FCFA and that of the bond market fell by 12.968 billion FCFA. The value of transactions rose, standing at 2.610 billion FCFA against 507.244 million FCFA on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

In Abidjan, the BRVM launched the listing of the FTC Teyliom Immo loan on February 28, 2022. The listing ceremony for the "FTC Teyliom Immo 7% 2021-2028 bond loan (FTIMC.01) raised 20 billion of FCFA (30 million euros) at the rate of 7% over a subscription period spread out from May 20 to June 18, 2021. The UCITS subscribed to the volume collected for approximately 67%.

Money Market

Benin raises more than 155 billion CFA francs on the WAEMU financial market. Benin's first 20-year bond issue received massive investor support. The simultaneous bond issue operation is subdivided into two tranches, including a tranche with a maturity of 15 years for an amount of sixty billion (60,000,000,000) CFA francs and a tranche with a maturity of 20 years for an amount of eighty - ten billion (90,000,000,000) CFA francs.

Following a simultaneous issue of 3-year and 10-year assimilable treasury bonds (OAT), Burkina Faso obtained on March 2, 2022, on the WAEMU financial market the sum of 49.858 billion FCFA . The amount of global bids amounted to 55.995 billion FCFA. This gives a rate of coverage of the amount auctioned of 111.99%.

Côte d'Ivoire received on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 a sum of 60 billion FCFA following a simultaneous operation by auction of assimilable treasury bonds (BAT) with a duration of 182 days and 364 days. Investors offered him global bids of 79.695 billion FCFA. This gives a rate of coverage of the amount auctioned of 132.83%.

At the end of its issue of assimilable treasury bonds (OAT), the State of Senegal raised an amount of 55 billion FCFA at the level of the WAEMU financial market. Investors have responded favorably to requests from the State of Senegal. The rate of coverage of the amount auctioned is 159.73%.

In the CEMAC zone, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) issued treasury bonds which enabled it to collect Tuesday, March ¹ , 35,070,000,000 (thirty-five billion seventy million) Fc or 17.53 million Usd . According to the government press release, it is planned to raise 430,000,000,000 (four hundred and thirty billion) Fc, an amount estimated at 215 (two hundred and fifteen million) Usd on the local market for issues of indexed treasury bills and government bonds. treasury indexed for the period from February to March 2022.

Raw materials

Oil prices are moving below multi-year records posted the day before. They thus mark a pause in their progression on Friday. The barrel of Brent and that of WTI remained close to the bar of 110 dollars, while the cap of 120 dollars was in sight on Thursday.

For its part, natural gas fell, the Dutch TTF yielding 6.73% to 150 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).

Reaching a new all-time high and the 'devil's metal', aluminum and nickel prices have soared in the past week, boosted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Aluminum thus reached its highest level for almost eleven years. On the London base metals market, aluminum hit $3,480 a tonne.

A ton of nickel for delivery in three months traded at 24,230 dollars, against 24,144 dollars a week earlier.

An ounce of gold traded for 1,888.25 dollars, against 1,898.43 dollars seven days earlier and 1,974.35 dollars at its highest on Thursday. An ounce of palladium traded for 2,347.45 dollars, against 2,350.75 dollars seven days earlier and 2,714.97 dollars at its highest in seven months on Thursday.

The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) indicated in a press release that a volume of 181,000 tonnes of beans should be missing during the said season against an estimated surplus of 215,000 tonnes in 2020/2021. Supply is thus forecast to reach 4.95 million tonnes against the historic record of 5.2 million tonnes recorded a year earlier.

In Ghana, several local companies are active in the manufacture of by-products. To support this momentum, the West African Mills Company (WAMCO) has announced a $5 million investment plan to upgrade its cocoa processing facilities based in the Effia industrial zone in Takoradi, west of the country.

The Mali-Nouakchott corridor now operational. In addition to having succeeded in stabilizing the prices of sugars and other consumable products on the market, the transition has also acquired the means to transport cotton fibers from Mali to the destination countries. The authorities launched the first convoy of trucks loaded with cotton fibers, through the operationalization of the Bamako-Nouakchott corridor. Said convoy consisted of 53 trucks, or 1,600 tons of cotton fibers.

Brazil is committed to strengthening Benin's capacities in the areas of cashew production, processing and marketing. Thus, the country releases 832 million CFA francs to support Benin in the development of the cashew sector.

The cross-border project for the exploitation and sale of iron on the sites of Mbalam in Cameroon and Nabeba in Congo is taking more and more shape. On February 25, 2022, a partnership agreement was signed by the Bestway Finance Limited and AustSino Resources Group Limited consortia in the presence of government authorities from both countries. A double agreement, one relating to the construction of the 510 km long railway linking Mbalam to the port of Kribi, and the other relating to the concession of the ore terminal of the Autonomous Port of Kribi (PAK).

Companies

The South African biopharmaceutical company, Biovac, has announced the raising of $150 million from 9 development banks to produce anti-covid-19 vaccines. The financing aims to support the production capacity and the expansion of Biovac's vaccines sector, and more generally the pharmaceutical industry on the continent.

At the end of the 2021 financial year, the SONATEL group displays a robust financial situation. Leader in its five countries of presence (Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone), the group continues to consolidate its achievements by adopting a strategy aimed at dealing with the competitive aggressiveness in place for a few years, especially in with regard to its growth drivers. Its turnover increased by 10.68% to 1,335 billion FCFA (2.04 billion Euros), against 1,206 billion FCFA at the end of the previous financial year.

Banks and Insurance

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding for a grant of USD 400,000 with the Central Depository/Settlement Bank of the West African Monetary Union (Umoa). AfDB financing will enable the creation and operationalization of a digital platform to automate the management of public offering operations for the regional financial market.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has granted funding of $270 million to Senegal for the construction of the Meckhe - Saint-Louis axis. Also called "The Coastal", the 200 km highway will constitute an essential link of the trans-African corridors, Tangier - Nouakchott - Dakar - Lagos and Algiers - Nouakchott - Dakar, for which extensions are planned towards Madrid in Spain.

The impact of Western sanctions on the Russian financial system are enormous. According to the European Central Bank (ECB), Sberbank Europe is recording "significant" withdrawals of deposits due to the conflict in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed by Western countries. Thus, several European subsidiaries of the Russian bank Sberbank, majority owned by the Russian government, are bankrupt or likely to go bankrupt.

The board of directors of the pan-African banking group Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), met on Monday, February 28, 2022. A sum of $40 million in dividends was proposed by the board of directors, a first in 5 years. This proposal results in a dividend per share of $0.16, or the equivalent of 90 FCFA, 66.6 naira or 1.08 Ghanaian cedi.

Emerging markets neobank, Canza Finance has successfully raised USD 3.27 million in seed funding. These resources should allow the company to expand its services in Nigeria, but also to continue its growth in America and Asia.

Over the next five years, NSIA Banque Côte d'Ivoire has set itself five priorities through "Altitude 22-26" which will enable it to aim for a sustainable position in the "top 5" of banks in Côte d'Ivoire. The first ambition of this pan-African bank is to increase its grip on the market by capitalizing on the growth of its client portfolio. It also aims to ensure risk control in order to make it a performance accelerator and a protective framework.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has launched an operation which consists of covering policyholders, owners of motorcycles for 3 months of circulation on public roads. The road traffic police (PCR) in partnership with the National Insurance Company (SONAS), Bandundu Agency, set the tone for the "forced recovery" operation of the compulsory wearing of the motor insurance policy, through this urban entity, Thursday in the capital of Kwilu province.

The 46th General Assembly of the Federation of African National Law Insurance Companies (FANAF) was held in Douala under the theme "Systemic Risks: Insurance and Resilience". Its purpose was to review the 2021 accounts and the 2022 budget. The meeting allowed participants to immerse themselves in the actions carried out during this second financial year, namely to defend the interests of members in the regulatory field and explore the bearers of the development of insurable material.

Financial crimes

In this press release dated March 2, 2022, the President of Faso, Lieutenant-Colonel, Paul-Henri Damiba gives instructions to the Comptroller General of the State of the Superior Authority for State Control and the Fight against Corruption (ASCE -LC). Indeed, the Head of State asked the ASCE-LC, in conjunction with the National Order of Chartered Accountants and the National Financial Information Processing Unit, to proceed as soon as possible with a general control of management of public administration structures.

A case reminiscent of a state scandal is taking place at the Banque Franco-Tunisienne. According to the website webmanagercenter.com, Majid Bouden, a Franco-Tunisian lawyer and former shareholder of Banque Franco-Tunisienne (BFT), claims to have been the victim for 36 years of a legal plot in Tunisia. The Tunisian state is now facing a big problem in connection with the BFT affair. Of the 500,000 dollars it is required to pay, Tunisia has so far only paid 75,000 dollars, the rest having been advanced by the company ABCI.

A network of counterfeit banknotes has been dismantled with two Cameroonians arrested by the police. The two Cameroonians are suspected of being part of a counterfeit money making network. They were arrested last Sunday, in Grand-Baie. False passports were also found in their possession. During a search of their apartment, the police found a special printer used to print counterfeit notes.

Richard Muyej Mangeze Mans deposed governor of the province of Lualaba allegedly embezzled an amount of more than 50 million USD and despoiled real estate properties in the province. He is accused of the embezzlement of a sum of 2,100,000 USD intended for the maintenance of the workshop of road construction machinery in the provinces; and 25,000,0005USD for the construction of the Kolwezi air terminal.

Regional growth

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, current President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and his Nigerien counterpart Mohamed Bazoum have launched work on the “North Dorsal” electrical interconnection project. The project must connect, in addition to Niger, three countries of the sub-region, namely Benin, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

From 6% in December 2021, inflation panicked and rose to 6.5% in January 2022 in the WAEMU zone. According to data from the monthly statistics bulletin published on Wednesday March 2 by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), Mali recorded the highest rate with 8.7%. It is followed by Benin and Togo, the two coastal neighbors having experienced respective inflation rates of 7.9 and 7.5%.

Europe has been the main destination for WAEMU exports for several years, a trend that was confirmed in 2020, despite covid-19. Europe's share in WAEMU exports has increased by more than 7 percentage points in 9 years. In the Union, the main exporting country remains Côte d'Ivoire, which in 2020 accounted for more than 40% of exports