After almost a decade of strong growth, the WAEMU region is facing severe challenges from a triple crisis impacting the health, economic and security situations. Both fiscal and monetary policies were relaxed significantly in 2020 to contain the pandemic and support the economy. A gradual fiscal...

This paper highlights annual discussions on Central African Economic and Monetary Community's (CEMAC) Common Policies in Support of Member Countries Reform Programs. Tighter macroeconomic and financial policies helped to avert a deeper crisis, and gross external reserves increased more rapidly...

The regional strategy has helped stabilize the regional economic position thanks to large fiscal consolidation efforts, a tighter monetary policy, and external financial assistance. The external position improved, and external reserves picked up. However, the region remains dependent on oil...

Context and risks. The pandemic may have a long-lasting impact on CEMAC's growth potential, which is already curtailed by structural, governance, and transparency issues. The policy response from national and regional authorities in 2020 helped mitigate the economic fallout. CEMAC, however,...

The countries in the East African Community (EAC) are among the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa. The EAC countries are making significant progress toward financial integration, including harmonization of supervisory arrangements and practices and the modernization of monetary...

While improving, CEMAC's economic situation remains fragile. Growth picked up slightly but remains well below potential. Governments' fiscal consolidation efforts, along with BEAC's tighter monetary policy and stricter enforcement of foreign exchange regulations, have contributed to a...

This report reviews the discussions between the IMF and the regional institutions of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). It highlights that the economic activity in the WAEMU remains strong but vulnerabilities persist. Despite lower terms of trade, social tensions, and security...

The regional strategy has helped to avert an immediate crisis but continues to face headwinds: two countries have yet to enter financing arrangements with the Fund: regional reserves have underperformed despite higher-than-projected oil prices; the projected recovery of non-oil growth has still...