Ouagadougou: The macroeconomic indicators of the West African Monetary Union (UEMOA) are considered satisfactory in the first quarter of 2024, estimated, Thursday, the current president of the Council of Finance Ministers of the UMOA, Adama Coulibaly.
‘Economic activity in space remained dynamic in the first quarter of 2024, with an increase of 5.1% in real gross domestic product (GDP), at an annual rate,’ declared the president of the council of finance ministers of UEMOA, Adama Coulibaly, specifying that it was 4.8% at the end of 2023.
The Minister of Finance and Budget of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, spoke on Thursday July 11, 2024 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on the occasion of the second ordinary session of the Council of Finance Ministers of the WAEMU.
According to forecasts from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), this GDP, in real terms, will be 6.1% by the end of 2024, compared to 5.3% in 2023, suggested the Ivorian Minister of Finance.
Concerning inflation within the zone, which
is 2.8% in the first quarter of 2024, compared to 2.3% in the last quarter of 2023, Mr. Coulibaly maintained that this increase can be explained by several factors. .
‘This situation is essentially attributable to the increase in prices of food products caused by the drop in cereal production during the 2023/2024 agricultural campaign in the Union,’ underlined Mr. Coulibaly.
In view of these data, the minister indicated that the economic prospects of the Union remain favorable, even if they depend in particular on the evolution of the international situation, the security and socio-political situation in the Union.
This is why he invited the other members of the council, within the framework of public finances, to strengthen the budgetary margins in order to contribute to the monetary and financial stability of the institution.
At the end of the work, Adama Coulibaly praised the members of the council for having exhausted all the points on the agenda of the meeting.
To this end, he noted that the approva
l of the final audit report of the accounts of the WAEMU bodies for the 2022 financial year and the adoption of guides for use by financial jurisdictions will strengthen the mechanisms contributing the effectiveness of the action of the supervisory bodies of the Member States of the Union.
The ministers also, during the work, examined and adopted the multilateral surveillance report for the first half of 2024.
According to the Minister in charge of Finance of Côte d’Ivoire, this component constitutes a real dashboard of the economic and financial prospects of the Member States.
Note that the WAEMU Council of Finance Ministers is the body responsible for implementing the general guidelines defined by the conference of heads of state and government.
The council is provided by one of the finance ministers, elected for a two-year term.
The Minister of Finance and Budget of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, Adama Coulibaly, has chaired the institution since January 1, 2023.
Note that several personalities parti
cipated in the opening ceremony.
These include the president of the Financial Markets Authority of the West African Monetary Union (AMF-UMOA), Badanam Patoki, the president of the UEMOA commission, Abdoulaye Diop, the governor of the BCEAO, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, and the president of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), Serge Ekué.
Source: Burkina Information Agency