The president of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), Serge Ekué revealed to the press that African countries or banks that want to borrow on the markets pay too high a risk premium. He believes that this situation hinders their development.

According to Serge Ekué, the development of Africa is not compatible with such short loan maturities: "the market does not lend beyond 7 years, an SME in our countries cannot borrow beyond ! »

“We lend at 5% or 6%. It's too much. The objective is less than 3%. The subject is therefore not so much the moratorium (on the debt) as obtaining low rates. Because it is better to issue new, cheaper and longer debt than to obtain a reprieve,” he said, calling on investors to change their outlook on the continent.

To achieve this rate, BOAD is working to connect global investors looking for long-term development assets.