The average debit interest rate for loans in WAEMU member countries returned in 2018 to its
"bearish momentum" seen since 2010, after seeing stability in 2017, according to a new
BCEAO report.
"The cost of credit thus fell from 6.92% in 2017 to 6.79% in 2018, i.e. a decrease of 13 percentage points.
percentage", indicates the report on the conditions of banks in the UEMOA-2018. It reports a fall
lending rates of 177 basis points over the past nine years.
"The decline in the average lending rate is [observed] in most countries of the Union in 2018", notes the
report.
He specifies that "the cost of credit fell in Niger (-45.7 basis points), in Guinea Bissau (-20.1
basis), Mali (-12.9 basis points), Benin (-10.2 basis points), Côte d'Ivoire (-9.0 basis points)
and in Senegal (-8.7 basis points)".
Conversely, add the authors of the report, an increase was noted in Burkina (+22.4 basis points)
and in Togo (+6.4 basis points). The lending rates intended for customers also fell in their
together, during the year 2018.
The main beneficiaries of the reduction in the cost of credit are individuals (-48 basis points),
state-owned companies (-11 basis points), private companies (-13 basis points) and companies
individual (-7 basis points).