At the opening of the Inter-State Committee of the Economic Union of Central Africa UEAC held by videoconference, the President of the CEMAC Commission revisited the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy of the Africa-Central sub-region. Prof Daniel Ona Ondo has challenged member states to take exceptional measures to beat back the shocks emanating from the pandemic.
Like other countries, the coronavirus pandemic has profoundly affected the economies of the community space. “Whether in our area or elsewhere, the measures taken to curb its spread have resulted in a virtual halt to entire sections of the economies. The achievements of responses to the economic crisis resulting from the fall in oil prices in 2014 have been called into question.” Daniel Ona Ondo said.
Although one can not yet determine the duration of this health crisis, GDP in the CEMAC zone is expected to contract by around 4 to 6%. Such a development would be accompanied by a significant deterioration in the living conditions of our populations, thus worsening precariousness and poverty. This gloom, which goes hand in hand with the risks of worsening budget deficits, will make it difficult to preserve debt sustainability, which could further weaken financial stability.
To tackle this challenge, the CEMAC Commission boss believes that, “our countries need to cover, at the risk of further obstructing macroeconomic imbalances, a non-negligible financing gap estimated by the BEAC at nearly CFAF 1.5 trillion.”
In prelude to the 35th session of the Council of Ministers of UEAC countries which will take place on August 10, several subjects of community interest are on the agenda of the virtual meeting of experts from member countries of the Economic Union of Central Africa (UEAC).
Under the chairmanship of Charles Assamba Ongodo (Director General of Cooperation and Regional Integration at the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Territorial Development (Minepat) and Chairman of the said committee), the Inter- States Committee has two days (August 4 and 5, 2020) to finalize the files to be submitted to the ministers of the 6 States of CEMAC (Economic Community of Central African States). These will meet on August 10 as part of the 35th session of the UEAC Council.
At the opening of the meeting, Charles Assamba Ongodo declared that the work “mainly concerns the examination of various cases relating to the recovery measures after Covid-19, to the financing of the Community, or to the free circulation in the CEMAC zone ”. That’s not all. According to the speaker, experts are also debating roaming on mobile electronic communications networks open to the public in the CEMAC zone.
At the institutional level, the work of this Council session will also allow the examination of the draft texts. Precisely: the Additional Act on the election of deputies by indirect universal suffrage; the regulation establishing the early warning mechanism for macroeconomic imbalances in the Cemac zone and the regulation establishing and operating the CEMAC mixed brigade.
