The Congolese Minister of Economy and Finance, Jean-Baptiste Ondaye, President of the Ministerial Committee of the Central African Monetary Union (UMAC), accompanied by Ludovic Ngatsé, Congolese Minister of Budget, Public Accounts and Portfolio public, and their French counterpart, Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, co-chaired, Tuesday April 25, 2023 in Bercy (France), headquarters of the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance, the meeting of Finance Ministers of the CEMAC-France monetary zones in Paris. This meeting was preceded, the day before, Monday April 24, 2023, by that of the experts.

The bilateral meeting, held in face-to-face format, was placed under the theme: What responses to the multiplicity of external shocks affecting the world economy and CEMAC in 2023?

The Finance Ministers of the two monetary zones began their working session with an analysis of the macroeconomic and financial situation: international perspectives, in the Euro zone and CEMAC in 2023.

After the introductory remarks made, respectively, by Abbas Mahamat Tolli, Governor of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) and François Villeroy De Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, the Ministers of Economy and Finance of the CEMAC zone (Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa) and their French counterpart unanimously noted that the world economy and that of CEMAC are faced with a multiplicity of exogenous economic, climatic, security and financial shocks.

Despite this very worrying observation, they praised the resilience of the Economies of the CEMAC countries, thanks to the implementation of the reforms initiated within the framework of the CEMAC Economic and Financial Reforms Program (PREF-CEMAC), with the support of all technical and financial partners (PTF). They also underlined that the regional integration of CEMAC and its monetary cooperation with France contribute to strengthening the economies of this sub-region and to protecting them, in part, from inflation.

  The Governors of the central banks have reaffirmed their commitment, in line with their mandate and the independence of monetary policy, to guarantee the stability of the currency.

The Finance Ministers first underlined the importance, on the one hand, of working towards sustainable and inclusive economic growth, in particular through the diversification of the productive fabric and adaptation to climate change and, on the other hand, to maintain the sustainability of public finances through the continued implementation of reforms. They then called for strengthening regional economic integration, a factor of resilience and solidarity of States, in the face of exogenous shocks, in a context of increasing security, economic and financial risks, through financing and implementation. , not only the priority integrating projects of CEMAC, but also the strategy of diversification of the Economies.

The participants in this meeting welcomed the success recorded in the implementation of the first CEMAC Integrative Project Program and welcomed, with interest, the holding of the Round Table which will take place in Paris, in November 2023, on the financing of the second Program of Integrative Projects for this economic zone.

Finally, the Finance Ministers of the two monetary zones reiterated the wish to continue these consultation meetings at a regular pace. Thus, the next meeting could be held in Central Africa.

The Communication Unit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance