CEMAC Leaders Agree on Collective Action

1. At the joint invitation of Their Excellencies Paul BIYA, President of the Republic of Cameroon and Professor Faustin-Archange TOUADERA, President of the Central African Republic, current Chairperson of the Conference of Heads of State of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), an Extraordinary Session of the said Conference was held at Unity Palace in Yaounde, on 16 December 2024.

2. The main theme of the Session was “Assessing CEMAC’s Situation and Economic, Monetary and Financial Outlook: Measures to Consolidate Resilience”.

3. The Summit was attended by the following:

• His Excellency Paul BIYA, President of the Republic of Cameroon;

• His Excellency Professor Faustin-Archange TOUADERA, President of the Central African Republic, current Chairperson of CEMAC;

• His Excellency OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea;

• His Excellency Brice Clotaire OLIGUI NGUEMA, Transition President of the Gabonese Republic, Head of State;

• Mr Anatole Collinet MAKOSSO, Prime Minister, representing His Excellency Denis SASSOU-N'GUESSO, President of the Republic of Congo;

• Mr TAHIR HAMID NGUILIN, Minister of State, Minister of Finance, Budget and Economy, representing Field Marshal MAHAMAT IDRISS DEBY ITNO, President of the Republic of Chad;

4. Mr Baltasar ENGONGA EDJO 'O, President of the CEMAC Commission, reported on agenda items.

5. In addition to the members of the Council of Ministers of the Central African Economic Union (UEAC) and the Ministerial Committee of the Central African Monetary Union (UMAC), the following also attended this extraordinary session: Mr ABEBE AEMRO SELASSIE, Africa Director, representing Ms KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mr Ousmane DIAGANA, Vice-President of the World Bank for West and Central Africa, Dr Serge N’GUESSAN, Managing Director of the Central Africa Office, representing Mr AKINWUMI ADESINA, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, H.E Thiery MARCHAND, Ambassador of the French Republic to Cameroon, representing the French Government and Mr Yvon SANA BANGUI, Governor of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC).

6. The Conference of Heads of State was preceded by the extraordinary sessions of the Ministerial Committee of the Central African Monetary Union (UMAC) and the Council of Ministers of the Central African Economic Union (UEAC), held respectively on 9 and 14 December 2024 by videoconference.

7. The official opening ceremony of the Conference was marked by the opening address of His Excellency Paul BIYA, President of the Republic of Cameroon, Summit host, followed by a speech by H.E. Professor Faustin-Archange TOUADERA, President of the Central African Republic, current Chairperson of the CEMAC Conference of Heads of State.

8. Addressing the agenda items, the Conference first of all followed with interest the statement by H.E. Denis SASSOU-N'GUESSO, President of the Republic of Congo, Dedicated President of CEMAC’s Economic and Financial Reform Programme (PREF-CEMAC), delivered by Mr Anatole Collinet MAKOSSO, Prime Minister, on the progress of the Programme and congratulated him on the work done. The Conference urged the De- dicated President to speed up implementation of the Programme to sustainably prevent the Community from exogenous economic shocks.

9. It then listened to the statements from special guests presented by Mr Abebe Aemro SELASSIE, Africa Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Mr Ousmane DIAGANA, Vice-President of the World Bank for West and Central Africa and the presentation of the Community Bodies Joint Report by Mr Yvon SANA BANGUI, Governor of BEAC, on CEMAC’s economic, monetary and financial situation. The Report revealed the significant progress recorded since 2016 in the implementation of a number of measures and structural reforms.

10. However, the level of foreign exchange reserves, which increased from 2.3 months in 2016 to 4.6 months in 2023 due to goods and services imports, is experiencing a downward trend since 2024. Additionally, the outlook for commodity prices and in- ternational trade seem unfavourable.

11. Accordingly, further collective and concerted efforts are needed to substantially improve the sub-region’s macroeconomic framework, including accelerating economic diversification and fiscal consolidation.

12. Following these presentations, the Heads of State:

• reaffirmed their commitment to community solidarity amid shocks, through a consistent and coordinated regional strategy to preserve fiscal sustainability, financial sector stability and a stronger CEMAC external position; and

• commended the progress made in recent years in implementing economic and financial reforms.

13. Furthermore, the Conference:

• urged Member States to continue fiscal consolidation through bilateral discussions with technical and financial partners, as well as to regularly produce and disseminate reliable and comprehensive fiscal, economic and financial data needed for multilateral surveillance, monetary policy and sector policies;

• reaffirmed the full and inclusive implementation of the Exchange Regulation, through diligent repatriation of foreign exchange by economic operators and, more particularly, through the signing, before 30 April 2025, of the escrow account agreements for mine reclamation funds (MRF) by extractive industries (oil and mining);

• urged the IMF, World Bank and all other partners to support States and the Central Bank in the repatriation and domiciliation of oil revenues;

• reiterated the commitment of States to the indepen- dence and capacity building of the Central Bank, the Central African Banking Commission and all the other Community institutions.

• prescribed the strengthening of the multilateral sur- veillance system through implementation of the early warning mechanism for macroeconomic imbalances, the adoption of a body of sanctions for breaches of multilateral surveillance rules and the systematic de- velopment of Triennial Convergence Programmes.

14. In addition, the Conference urged Member States and Community institutions to take measures to shield banks from sovereign risk exposure, in accordance with multilateral surveillance criteria. While commending the contribution of the banking sector to development finance, it urged national and regional supervisory authorities to take collective action to preserve a sound and stable banking system.

15. Lastly, to enhance the stability of the CEMAC ma- croeconomic framework, the Conference urged:

• development partners to (i) work towards the conclu- sion of reviews of their Agreeme...