The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) reports that the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) expects 6.1% growth by the end of 2024, up from 5.3% in 2023. Revised economic growth forecasts are largely due to a dynamic first quarter with a 5.1% growth rate.
Direct loans from banks within the WAEMU to private non-financial enterprises rose by 7.4%, indicating strong financing of economic activity in the first quarter of this year. Inflation stood at 2.8% during the same period, below the threshold set by the BCEAO for its member states – which include Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger and Togo.
Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, Governor of the BCEAO noted that “We benefited from favorable developments in terms of trade, particularly from the decline in prices of imported energy products and the increase in prices of our main exported commodities (gold, cocoa, cotton, and rubber).”
He added that significant mobilizations of external resources by certain states in the first quarter of 2024 has strengthened external accounts.
