By DOH JAMES SONKEY
At the request of Chairperson of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States better known by its French acronym as CEMAC, the President of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou N’guesso, members of the steering committee of the Financial and Economic Reform Programme (PREF-CEMAC) met last March 28, 2020 in an extraordinary session in Brazzaville, Congo to discuss the economic and financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC).
The gathering was to discuss measures aimed at fighting the spread of the deadly Pandemic in the CEMAC countries zone and the consequences on the economies of the sub-region.
His Excellency Denis Sassou N’guesso who is also chairperson of PREF-CEMAC had called for the extraordinary session at the time the sub region is recording an increase in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Chairing the extraordinary session of PREF-CEMAC, the Minister of State, Minister of the Economy, Industry and Public Portfolio of the Republic of Congo, Gilbert Ondongo, centered discussions on the adoption of unanimous solutions aimed at curtailing the rapid spread of COVID-19 that is creating havoc across the globe, claiming thousands of lives including that of the CEMAC President of the Audit Bench, Juan Carlos Owona Ela Mangue in Spain.
Other aspects discussed at the session was to mitigate the scope of the macro-economic consequences of the crisis on the populations and economies, ensure monetary and financial system stability and strengthen in the medium term, the resilience of CEMAC countries.
The session ended with participants adopting what they termed, Prompt Solutions To Rescue CEMAC Population and Economies, read out by the Permanent Secretary Of PREF-CEMAC, H. E. Cyr Djiena Wembou. The urgent measures adopted to sustain the populations, health, economies and businesses in the CEMAC countries zone are:
1- Over 90 billion CFA Frs was adopted to prioritise financing all public health projects;
2- Over 500 billion CFA Frs to be injected in the monetary and financial systems by BEAC through the BDEAC in all CEMAC member countries by March 30, 2020; and
3- Cancellation of external debts, or renegotiate debts of member countries on new terms according to each country’s specificities etc.
The session took place in the presence of the President of CEMAC Commission, Professor Daniel Ona Ondo, the Governor of BEAC and Deputy Chairperson of PREF-CEMAC, Abbas Mahamat Tolli, Ministers of Finance, the Economy, Integration and leading officials of relevant community institutions, such as BEAC, COBAC, GABAC, CONSUMAF and UNIPACE. Technical partners such as the World Bank, IMF, AFDB, UNDP and UNECA also attended as observers.
In a chat with reporters at the end of the session, Cameroon’s Finance Minister, Louis Paul Motaze said “It must be worth noting that despite some of these multifarious measures, some CEMAC member countries have been grappling with security challenges, in addition to restoring their macro-economic diversification. The consequences of the health crisis, COVID-19, will therefore be significant, immediate, and multifaceted, albeit of different scope depending on the countries mindful of whether they are oil producing or non-oil producing countries, and in the extent of diversification of their productive activities. Furthermore, the impact of the current health crisis may undermine the numerous gains recorded so far, under the structural adjustment programmes and the PREF-CEMAC programmes set up by the Heads of state of the CEMAC in Malabo, on July 30, 2016. While these urgent and prompt measures are highly saluted by desperate populations, economies and businesses in the CEMAC countries zone, everyone has to contribute in the fight against this planetary pandemic called COVID-19, by adhering to all the restrictive measures put in place by the Ministry of Public Health and the World Health Organisation. Governments cannot do it alone; it is therefore a collective fight, for the good of humanity.”