West Africa Central Bank raises rate due to Niger coup - Daba Updates

Highlights

• West Africa’s Central Bank, BCEAO, hiked its main lending rate on Wednesday in the wake of another military coup that has rocked the region and caused trade blocks between countries.
• In Niger, the central bank’s member state, a military junta seized power on July 26 in the seventh military takeover since 2020 in West and Central Africa.
• The bank will raise the rate by 25 basis points to 3.25% from September 16 against a backdrop of growing regional uncertainty and persistent inflationary pressures.

Source: CNBC

Our Takeaway

The Central Bank of the eight-nation West African CFA franc zone covers Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. Regional uncertainty remains one of Africa’s major challenges. Since Niger’s, Africa has seen another coup in Gabon, the second this year. Out of the 486 attempted or successful military coups worldwide since 1950, the continent accounts for the most with 214, of which at least 106 have achieved their objectives. And based on available records, no less than 45 out of the 54 nations on the continent have encountered at least one coup attempt since 1950.