The decision, which aims at anticipating inflationary pressures, was taken at the end of the third ordinary session of the Monetary Policy Committee of the sub-regional institution which was held on September 26, 2022 in Yaounde.

The Bank of Central African States has once again raised its key interest rates in the face of the galloping inflation that has plagued the world and the CEMAC since the beginning of the year, reports ecomatin.  According to this same source, the tender interest rate, which is the rate offered to banks for bank refinancing operations in order to facilitate their liquidity management, has been raised from 4.00 to 4.50%.

The marginal lending rate, which is the interest that commercial banks pay when they borrow liquidity from the BEAC, was increased from 5.75 to 6.25%. The increase is due to “the recent evolution of the economic situation, as well as the updated macroeconomic outlook at both the national and sub-regional levels“, says the institution’s press release.

Indeed, the BEAC assumes a real GDP growth rate of 3.2% in 2022, against 1.5% in 2021, as well as the projection of inflation rate at 4.2% in annual average in September 2022, before rising to 5.2% in December 2022 and reaching a peak of 5.7% in March 2023.

The decision that was therefore taken aims, among other things, to put downward pressure on inflation, in a context where the prices of oil, food and other products are rising steadily, which disturbs the balance between supply and demand.

Beac’s money market interventions ups by 70%

In 2021, liquidity injection and recovery operations reached an average of 662.5 billion against 469.7 billion in 2020. Made public by the Beac, the review of the stability of the CEMAC financial system for the 2021 financial year reports on the situation of the single macroprudential policy for the six CEMAC countries. Overall, the anti-Covid-19 measures taken by the Banking Commission of Central Africa (Cobac) have had a positive impact on the process of revitalising the sub-regional financial market.

During the year 2021, the money market was marked by strong demand for central bank money by credit institutions, an increase in the volume of interbank transactions, an increase in two intervention rates (tender interest rate and marginal lending facility rate) and the launch of liquidity recovery operations.