The special day of Thursday, December 5, 2024 was devoted by the participants in the 12th ordinary session of the Permanent Framework for Consultation of Public Treasuries (CPC-TP) of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) to the assessment of the 13 years of existence (2011-2024) of the Treasury Securities Market (MVT) of this community. In opening the proceedings, which are being held in Brazzaville, the Congolese Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr. Jean-Baptiste ONDAYE, indicated that "this market constitutes a credible alternative to financing the needs of the six Member States".

Indeed, according to the Minister, "since its establishment in 2011, the CEMAC Treasury securities market has diversified the sources of financing of Member States, while offering investors a secure and structured framework for their investments. In the face of the various shocks that CEMAC countries have faced, the market has always been able to establish itself as a first-rate bulwark, thus contributing to maintaining the normal functioning of our States, while preserving the standard of living of the populations in times of crisis and in a context of difficulties in mobilizing financing from various international donors".

The achievements of the MVT CEMAC, according to the Minister

Faced with economic upheavals, the response of the MVT CEMAC is worthy of praise, in terms of volume of activities.The speaker expressed himself in these terms: "In many countries, these crises were accompanied by a drop in oil production, a consequence of aging fields and weak investments. Fortunately, the Market was there, fortunately the Market is there, fortunately, the Market will always be there.

Many of us were far from imagining the meteoric growth in the volume of market activities over the past thirteen years.

Indeed, the total outstanding on the market increased from 51.6 billion at the end of December 2011 to 1,019 billion FCFA in 2018; to 4,650 billion in 2021; to 5,082 billion in 2022; and to 7,167.7 billion as of October 31, 2024. These figures eloquently illustrate the fact that the Treasury Securities Market constitutes a credible alternative to financing the needs of CEMAC States."

In addition, he added, in the same section of achievements, "the continued increase in liquidity exchanged has also been accompanied by a diversification of the holders of securities, formerly held exclusively by Treasury Securities Specialist Banks (SVT). Similarly, all CEMAC public treasuries have initiated a qualitative leap towards the Market culture.Progress in the organization of treasury services in charge of market operations, procedures and electronic infrastructures is palpable. The various frameworks for exchanges and sharing of experience and good practices, born from the development of the market, have played a considerable role in this."

The weaknesses of the MVT

Mr. Jean-Baptiste ONDAYE noted, however, a weakness in the share of the amounts raised devoted to financing productive investments. According to him, "Due to the particular context of the growth of market activities, it is clear that the share of the amounts raised devoted to financing productive investments remains low. Indeed, most of the resources mobilized are allocated to the repayment of existing instalments, to the detriment of productive investments, more conducive to economic growth".

To reverse this trend, the Head of the Department of Economy and Finance of Congo-Brazzaville encouraged the participants in the work of this special day of the 12th session of the CPC-TP-CEMAC to formulate concrete proposals for possible solutions.

Some themes of the work of the special day-review of the 13 years

The participants in the special day of December 5, 2024 worked on several themes, including: "Review of the CEMAC Treasury securities market, 13 years after November 2011, and prospects"; "Transparency relating to the capacity and willingness of sovereign issuers to honor their commitments: current situation, constraints and prospects for African financial centers"; and "Market Infrastructure as a solution to secure exchanges, guarantee price transparency and accelerate the process of diversifying the investor base, extending maturities and deepening the secondary market for Treasury securities: the case of CEMAC".

The Communication Unit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance

Photo credit: B2B Communication