The CEMAC zone (Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa) is expected to experience a slowdown in growth to 2.4% in 2025, compared to 2024. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) published these macroeconomic forecasts during its last annual ordinary session held on December 15 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, under the aegis of its governor, Yvon Sana Bangui.

As usual, the technical meeting was devoted to analyzing international and sub-regional economic prospects. At the community level, the macroeconomic forecasts updated by the BEAC services for the year 2025 reveal progress but also some weaknesses.

They project in particular a slowdown in growth to 2.4%, compared to 2.7% in 2024, a decrease in the inflation rate below the community standard to 2.2%, compared to 4.1% recorded in 2024, a slight improvement in the budget balance, on a commitment basis, excluding grants, to -1.4% of GDP, compared to -1.6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2024.

The CPM also noted the deterioration of the current account balance, including official donations, to -2.9% of GDP, compared to 0.3% of GDP recorded in 2024. The money supply would increase by 5.1% to 21,977.7 billion FCFA at the end of December 2025.

Regarding foreign exchange reserves, the CPM notes that these would decrease in one year by 2.6% to 6,377.3 billion on December 31, 2025, or 4.2 months of imports of goods and services.

Taking into account the developments described above, in particular the decline in the external coverage ratio of the currency, the CPM decided to raise: the interest rate on tenders from 4.50% to 4.75%; and that of the marginal lending facility from 6.00% to 6.25%.

Furthermore, it decided to maintain the deposit facility rate at 0.00% and the required reserve ratios at 7.00% on demand receivables and 4.50% on time receivables.

At the international level, however, the MPC indicated that according to the World Economic Outlook published in October 2025, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts global growth of 3.2% in 2025 and 3.1% in 2026, compared to 3.3% in 2024.

Regarding prices, the IMF projects a decline in the global inflation rate to 4.2% in 2025 and 3.7% in 2026, after 5.8% in 2024. During a lively online press conference at the end of the ceremony, the Governor of the BEAC promised that the BEAC has planned coercive measures to stabilize the macroeconomic and regulatory framework of the community zone. “With regard to economic issues, it is the responsibility of the member states to implement measures that maintain the growth rate and an economic policy that ensures local production in order to transform it into a production-based economy,” concluded Yvon Sana-Bangui.