Foreign exchange market

While traders were waiting for US employment at the end of the week and following a rather cautious message from the President of the Fed, the European currency gained 0.09% to 1.1808 dollars, after having reached 1.1832 dollars for one euro around 08:40 GMT, a highest since August 6. The dollar was trading against a basket of currencies near a three-week low. The dollar index slipped a quarter percent to 92.456, its lowest level since then. The pound rose to its highest level in two weeks at $1.38010, before falling back below $1.38. The yen remained broadly stable at 109.945 to the dollar.

Cryptocurrencies

The head of Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Thursday the establishment of a fintech division. This service of the Nigerian Securities Regulatory Authority aims at the study of investments and cryptographic products in order to come up with regulation of the cryptocurrency market. The commission seeks to work with fintech companies to boost the marketing of domestic securities to prevent capital flight.

Money Market

Three countries of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU) were on the financial market. The General Directorate of Treasury and Public Accounting of Burkina Faso raised an amount of 27.500 billion FCFA. Also Niger carried out an issue of bonds assimilated by the Treasury by auction, relating to an amount of 25 billion CFA francs and maturities of five years and ten years. Finally, Senegal issues similar Treasury bonds by auction, for an amount of 50 billion CFA francs and maturities of five and seven years. The operation managed by the UMOA-Titres agency aims to enable the issuer to mobilize the savings of natural and legal persons in order to cover the financing needs of the Senegalese State budget within the framework of these economic recovery plans in order to contain the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and restore performance prior to the health crisis.

Stock market

The President of the WAEMU Commission, Abdoulaye DIOP received in audience the Director General of the BRVM, Edoh Kossi AMENOUNVE at the headquarters of the WAEMU Commission in Ouagadougou. The two authorities discussed the evolution of the regional financial market. The health crisis linked to Covid-19 was also invited to the exchanges. Edoh Kossi AMENOUNVE was also received by the President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. On the menu of exchanges, popular shareholding in the mining sector. The financing of the Burkinabè economy, in particular shareholding in the mining sector, was mainly the center of interest of the two men.

The main indicators of the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) evolved in scattered ranks. After a few upward trends, the BRVM 10 index (the index of the stock market's 10 flagship stocks) lost 0.40% to 138.44 points against 138.99 points the day before. In the same vein, the BRVM Composite index (the general stock market index) lost 0.11% to 176.12 points against 176.31 points the day before. The total value of transactions fell from 4.741 billion FCFA the day before to 517.216 million FCFA at the end of the session of this Wednesday, September 1, 2021. As for the market capitalization of the equity market, it recorded a drop of 5.686 billion FCFA , standing at 5,300.265 billion FCFA against 5,305.951 billion FCFA the day before. That of the bond market was found with a drop of 21.607 billion FCFA to 7080.314 billion FCFA against 7101.921 billion FCFA the day before.

The Casablanca Stock Exchange is among the most dynamic places in the region in the ^2nd quarter of 2021 according to the Arab Monetary Fund's quarterly publication on the performance of the Arab stock market. It is one of the 14 Arab financial centers that recorded good performance in the second quarter of the year. Casablanca's sixth place is also ahead, in terms of performance, of the stock exchanges of Algeria, Tunisia, Dubai, Khartoum, Palestine, Qatar and Beirut. On the other hand, the Damascus and Egyptian stock exchanges underperformed compared to the same period of the previous year.

Raw materials

Black gold prices remain supported by the sharp drop in crude inventories in the United States last week (-7.2 million barrels against an expected decline of 2.5 mb, the lowest in almost two years ) as well as the latest OPEC+ decision. The allies will put 400,000 additional barrels back on the market in October and the following months, until September 2022.

Côte d'Ivoire had signed contracts with the Italian Eni and the French Total in 2019, for the exploration of four oil blocks corresponding to an investment of 185 million dollars. In a press release, the Ivorian Minister of Mines and Petroleum, Thomas Camara indicates that this operation led to a major discovery of oil in the sedimentary basin of Côte d'Ivoire in block CI-101, in deep waters, operated in consortium with the national company Petroci Holding. Discovered reserves relate to crude oil and associated natural gas.

The Ministry of Agriculture of Benin carried out on Thursday, August 26, the review of the agricultural sector for the year 2020. On the occasion, the figures on the cotton sector were highlighted by the authorities. Thus, it appears that cotton production increased to 731,073 tons in 2020, an increase of 8%. It went from 714,714 tons in 2019 to 731,073 tons in 2020.

Despite pockets of drought and storage difficulties, the Intercoton of Côte d'Ivoire mentions the production and distribution of 25,000 seeds of the R1, R2 and R3 generations, despite some droughts. Farmers were able to obtain an average seed production germination rate of 70 to 90% with also relatively high yields, around 1,300 kg/h, unlike previous years. The national production of seed cotton, for the 2020-2021 campaign, positions Côte d'Ivoire in 2nd place in Africa with a production of more than 559,000 tons against 490,000 tons the previous campaign.

After copper and iron, it's aluminum's turn to soar to new historic records. With China, which produces 60% of the aluminum in the world, the metal has risen to its highest level in ten years. On Tuesday, it ended the session at 2,714 dollars per ton, unseen since 2011.

Banks and Insurance

The BGFIBank group intends to consolidate its presence in the Central African Republic by soon entering the capital of the former subsidiary of the Fotso group. The audience of August 16 that Faustin Archange Touadera granted to Henri-Claude Oyima was officially for the presentation of the strategic partnership that BGFIBank has just established with Commercial Bank Centrafrique (CBCA). Which consists of technical assistance for this former subsidiary of the Fotso group that the Central African State has managed to restructure.

Togo now only has 10% of the capital of the Banque Togolaise pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (BTCI). The State sold part of its shares in the share capital of BTCI to the IB Holding company of a Burkinabe billionaire who made his fortune in construction with his company EBOMAF.

The Bceao informs that under the WAEMU interbank market, the weighted average rate stood at 2.67% during the month under review, against 2.59% the previous month and 3.01% in July 2020. Compared to the one-week compartment, the average volume of transactions increased from 332.7 billion in June 2021 to 293.1 billion in July 2021. The average interest rate stood at 2.48% in July 2021, against 2.33% the previous month. Banking conditions indicate stability in bank lending interest rates during the month of July 2021 compared to the previous month.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and Benin signed two loan agreements on the occasion of the 46th Annual Meeting of the Group of Governors of the IDB. These loan agreements of approximately 86 billion CFA francs are intended for the financing of two development projects, in particular the community health and nutrition project and the Cotonou rainwater sanitation project (PAPC). Also, the financial institution implements, in Senegal, 80 development projects worth 2.6 billion USD. The announcement was made by the president of the institution, Dr. Bandar Hajjar. The sectors that have received the most financing from the bank are energy, transport, agriculture, water and sanitation, finance, industry and mining, health, education and public administration.

At the 73rd session held on August 28, 2021 in Bamako, the Development Bank of Mali (BDM-SA) indicated that the bank's share capital had increased from 25 to 50 billion FCFA. It thus becomes the second most capitalized bank in WAMU. As a reminder, on June 23, the bank was named "Best Regional Bank in West Africa" in 2021. It should be noted that this 73rd session was dominated by appointments within the banking institution among the five (5) Best Bank Leaders in Africa. Also, in the field of training, five Malians have particularly distinguished themselves in the 2021 promotion of the Institute of Banking Techniques (ITB) of France.

The West African Development Bank (BOAD) obtains assistance of 50 million US dollars, or 32.797 billion CFA francs from the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA). The grant agreement agreement was signed on Monday August 30, 2021 by videoconference. Three other loan agreements were signed respectively with the Republic of Cabo Verde, the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, and a technical assistance agreement with Smart Africa. This new financing from BADEA in West Africa amounts to approximately 90 billion CFA francs.

Through the opening of a new agency in the Kilwin district of Ouagadougou, SONAR, the insurance leader, is getting closer to its customers. Its new agency was inaugurated by the deputy general manager of SONAR-IARD, Jean-Marie Vianney Béyi. The opening of the Kilwin branch comes after that of Pissy and that of Wemtenga respectively in July and June 2021. This branch, which brings to 20 the number of branches installed throughout the territory, is the initiative of 'Adama Zoungrana, the very man who has assumed several technical and commercial responsibilities within the group for more than 30 years.

Financial crimes

The Cameroonian State and the Atou firm are fighting a fierce battle in the case of alleged embezzlement of public funds at the Autonomous Port of Douala (PAD), under investigation at the Special Criminal Court (TCS) in Yaoundé. At the heart of this dispute is the control of the management of the assets of three former state companies. These are the Cameroon National Ports Office (ONPC, ancestor of the PAD), the National Commodities Marketing Board (ONCPB) and the Cameroon National Railways Authority (RNCF or Regifercam). The combined assets of these three entities is estimated at around one hundred billion FCFA. The instruction to the TCS was, in fact, opened following a denunciation by Lazare Atou of the eponymous firm, which has already been managing the assets of these former state companies for ten years. This denunciation would be made at a time when the management of the heritage of the ex-ONPC, ONCPB and Regifercam, which has fueled speckled foil battles within the seraglio and has been straining government solidarity for more than a decade, is taking a new turn. .

For good governance within the Vocational Training Center of the National Institute of Social Welfare (Inps) organized a seminar last week to establish the mapping of fraud risks and the institute's risk control plan. It was a question of mobilizing all the players and integrating the culture of risk management and internal control into the management of the National Institute of Social Welfare.

About thirty media professionals from the Plateaux and Maritime Regions have been in capacity building training since September 2, 2021 in Kpalimé, on the fight against corruption and money laundering. The seminar is an initiative of the Association "Togolese Media against Corruption and Money Laundering" (MéToCoB), in collaboration with the Togolese Revenue Office (OTR). The objective is to familiarize them with a better knowledge and manifestations of these scourges, their multiple facets, as well as the techniques and methods to fight them in their monitoring and vanguard missions in the communities.

In Senegal, the Special Cybersecurity Division (Dsc) dismantled a network of counterfeit banknote traffickers in Cité Mixta according to exclusive information from Seneweb. More than 02 million FCfa in counterfeit banknotes were found on counterfeiters. Caught red-handed, Mr. Diouf, claiming to be a mobile phone seller, and his sidekick Mr. Ndiaye, claiming to be a trader, were taken to the premises of the Special Cybercrime Division for the purposes of the investigation.

Regional growth

Regional Experts have been meeting in Togo since Monday, August 30, 2021 for the harmonization of the Baccalaureate in the Member States of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA). For five days, these experts capitalized on the fruits of several years of intense technical work with a view to setting up a regional mechanism for monitoring and evaluating the achievements of pupils in the final year of secondary education. They also shared the experiences acquired in the organization of the "white" BAC, to identify and agree on common actions to be taken as a priority for the organization of the regional "white" BAC and to develop national action plans. and roadmaps for the implementation of Directive 07/2020.