AfDB Strengthens Regional Financial Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) have signed a grant agreement to support a project for a unified financial market of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC).

The deal, which was signed recently, is made up of $994,638 from the African Private Sector Assistance Fund (FAPA), funded by Japan and Austria and hosted at the AfDB. It is in addition to resources already released by the bank in support of the regional financial market.

The resources are the technical assistance approved by the lender in 2019 to support the start-up of the unified financial market in Central Africa as well as a capacity-building programme supervised by the bank and supported by the French Fund for technical assistance.

The BEAC was mandated by the Heads of State of CEMAC to strengthen the players in the regional financial market in Central Africa and further boost the public securities market in the CEMAC zone which brings together six countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad).

The support provided by the AfDB will make it possible to implement three main components: revitalization of the government securities market, support for the stock market and support for project management.

The project will stimulate the deepening of the regional financial market through a series of reforms aimed at further developing the government securities market, encouraging the growth of long-term domestic savings.

The reforms are also aimed at improving listing conditions in order to stimulate Initial public offerings (IPOs) and corporate bonds and strengthen the capacities of market institutions and actors.

In addition, the project will support insurance companies through the Inter-African Conference on Insurance Markets (CIMA) by promoting the collection of reliable, automated, available and coordinated insurance market data as well as the implementation compliance of the regulatory framework with international standards.

The direct beneficiaries of this new support from the AfDB are the BEAC, the Unified Stock Exchange of Central Africa (BVMAC), the Central African Financial Market Surveillance Commission (COSUMAF), the central depository, CIMA and CEMAC economic agents.