The Bank of Central African States released a related outlook on Tuesday, July 7, 2020. The Coronavirus pandemic has come to amplify the decaying health of the economies of the Central Africa sub-region. The already bleak situation in the six member countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC) has further deteriorated.
A note of conjuncture drawn up by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), made public on Tuesday, July 7, 2020, illustrates this very aptly. In fact, in the first quarter of the current year, the overall price index for the basic products exported by CEMAC decreased by 14.9%.
“A sharp drop, especially since the previous quarter, exports had increased by 2.1%, oil has contributed more than 88.3% to the overall evolution, while the contribution of agricultural products was 0.2%. The deterioration in the terms of trade of which the Central Bank is the consequence of a general fall in the prices of energy and non-energy products due mainly to the uncertainties linked to the effects of the current health crisis,” the report says.
Indeed, the decline in the index is partly driven by the fall in oil prices. In the last quarter of 2019, the price of a barrel of crude oil, which cost US $ 60.3, rose to US $ 49.1 in the first quarter of 2020.
It should also be noted that prices for energy products fell sharply by -19.3%, while non-energy products edged up 0.5%. “This increase is mainly observed in the metals and minerals (+ 2.8%) and fishery products (+ 1.2%) markets.” BEAC explains.
