Since 2016, the rate of financial inclusion in the West African Economic and Monetary Union has experienced
a significant increase. This is one of the lessons to be learned from efforts to promote inclusive finance
in the Union. At the opening of Financial Inclusion Week, this Monday, November 18, 2019, at the headquarters of the
BCEAO, in Dakar, Governor Tiémoko Meyliet Koné reported on the good figures for financial inclusion
in WAEMU. But the BCEAO does not intend to stop there.

“The financial inclusion rate stood at 57.1% at the end of 2018, compared to 47.0% in 2016, i.e. a
increase of more than 10 percentage points", indicated Governor Tiémoko Meyliet Koné.
The interesting progression of financial inclusion in the WAEMU is largely supported by services
financial services provided by mobile phone technologies. Thus, electronic money accounts and
transactions have increased considerably in the area. The numbers bear this out.

"These notable advances are mainly driven by the contribution of financial services via the
mobile telephony, the usage rate of which stood at 34.0% in 2018. This contribution of the currency
has resulted in an increase in the number of currency accounts in the WAEMU
open electronics, which stood at more than 62.9 million in 2018 compared to 18.2 million in 2014.
number of transactions, meanwhile, increased from 0.3 billion in 2014 to 1.9 billion in 2018, i.e. from
3.760 billion FCFA to 23.534 billion FCFA", detailed the Governor.

Financial inclusion in WAEMU will be further driven by digital and initiatives
governments in favor of digitalization. "Perceptible changes in the financial ecosystem
of our Union indicate that progress in terms of financial inclusion will be driven in particular by
digital payments, government digitalization policies and the development of
second-generation financial services via mobile telephony", Mr. Koné also revealed.

And these happy prospects in the financial inclusion process driven by digital and
telephony are confirmed by studies conducted by the BCEAO. These projections are corroborated by
the results of recent work carried out by the Central Bank for the construction of an index
summary of financial inclusion for WAEMU countries. Index which also reveals that the
prospects for improving financial inclusion lie in exploiting the opportunities offered
by new technologies", indicated the Governor of the BCEAO.

The kick-off of the second edition of Financial Inclusion Week was given this Monday by the
Senegalese Minister of Finance and Budget Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo, representing the Council of
WAEMU ministers.

The theme of this edition of the Week of Financial Inclusion is: "digitalization at the service of
Financial Inclusion: Challenges for the Financial Sector in WAEMU Member States".
The activities will continue until November 23, 2019. They will take place simultaneously at the headquarters of
the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) in Dakar and in the various directions
of the 8 UEMOA countries