BCEAO: the Central Bank of West African States
What is the BCEAO?
The BCEAO (Central Bank of West African States) is the common issuing institution of the eight WAMU states. An international public institution with its headquarters in Dakar, it issues the West African CFA franc and conducts the Union's monetary policy, the guidelines of which are set by its Monetary Policy Committee.
Governance of the BCEAO
The Governor, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, heads the Bank and chairs the Monetary Policy Committee. The other bodies are the Board of Directors, the Audit Committee and the National Credit Councils. The Financial Stability Committee fosters dialogue between the authorities responsible for the stability of the financial system.
The Monetary Policy Committee met for the first time on 14 September 2010, and the Audit Committee on 14 December 2011, after the institutional reform of the WAMU that took effect on 1 April 2010. The headquarters, on Avenue Abdoulaye Fadiga in Dakar, was transferred from Paris in 1978 and inaugurated on 26 May 1979.
Monetary policy of the BCEAO
The main objective of monetary policy is price stability. To achieve it, the BCEAO acts on bank liquidity through money-market tenders, a marginal lending facility and reserve requirements. It also acts through a minimum bid rate for liquidity-providing operations, which is its main policy rate.
On 9 September 2026, the Committee kept this rate at 3.00%, the marginal lending facility at 5.00% and the reserve requirement ratio at 3.00%. These levels have been unchanged since 16 March 2026. The BCEAO reports inflation of 0.4% in the Union in the second quarter of 2026, compared with -0.2% in the previous quarter.
Role of the BCEAO in the financial system
The BCEAO supports national Treasuries by organising auctions of bills and bonds. It presented to the Council of Ministers the commissioning of the Union's Financial Stability Fund, endowed with FCFA 383 billion, which the Council decided on 3 July 2026.
The central bank also acts on payments. An interoperable instant payment platform, the PI-SPI, went through a pilot phase launched on 22 July 2024, then an official launch on 30 September 2025. The BCEAO approves payment solutions.
On the prudential side, its Governor chairs the Deposit Guarantee and Resolution Fund in the WAMU, and the WAMU Banking Commission relies on a General Secretariat attached to the Bank. The Bank takes part in the regional framework against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Parity of the CFA franc
The West African CFA franc has been pegged to the euro since 1 January 1999. An agreement announced on 21 December 2019 between the states of the Union and France provides for the fixed parity to be maintained and the operations account to end.