Page 5 - AfrOil Week 39 2022

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

Despite potentially being an important market things, issues related to the economic and
of approximately 59mn inhabitants and abun- financial spectrum of the CEMAC area will be
dant natural resources, the CEMAC zone con- addressed. This will give him the possibility of
tinues to be the least developed, with the worst using a powerful platform such as AEW 2022
fiscal and monetary policies on the African to offer explanations to the African and global
continent. business community about the monetary and
Out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s financial objectives pursued in the medium and
“Doing Business” index in 2020, the six CEMAC long term with the implementation of disastrous
countries are in the worst positions with Cam- policies that the BEAC is enforcing for the mac-
eroon in position 167; Gabon at position 168; roeconomic interests of the subregion.
Equatorial Guinea in position 178; Chad at posi-
tion 182; Central African Republic in position Need for urgent intervention
184; and Republic of the Congo at position 180. The AEC also invites the heads of state and
With the scenario described above, it is not finance ministers of the CEMAC zone to adopt
surprising that the flow of foreign investment to corrective measures that would mitigate the
the region has decreased exponentially in recent unnecessary economic damage caused in the
years. region by the implementation of the disastrous
and irresponsible BEAC’s Foreign Exchange
A sinking ship Regulation. This is an issue that has become a
There are moments when it becomes necessary true nightmare for businessmen and women
to call things by their name, moments when who generate national wealth and employment CEMAC’s six
silence is not an option, moments when it is nec- in the subregion. This monetary policy consti- member states
essary to denounce and expose the bad actors tutes today the main obstacle for the attraction
that are holding back the development of the of foreign direct investment into the region and share a regional
African continent, moments when we must put blocks any attempt or manoeuvre toward eco-
the general public interest above anything else. nomic recovery. economy
The time has come for Abbas Mahamat Tolli, A monetary and financial system conceived
Governor of the Bank of Central African States and created more than four decades ago and dominated by
(BEAC), to respond to regional and interna- that has not been adapting itself to the economic hydrocarbons
tional public opinion on certain issues related to realities of a globalised, dynamic and increas-
the implementation of his disastrous BEAC For- ingly interconnected and interdependent world
eign Exchange Regulation policy in the CEMAC cannot respond or face the complexities that
zone. derive from the interaction between economic
The regional business community, foreign actors of the subregion with the outside world.
investors, partners in development and the The time has come for the BEAC to remove
general population of the CEMAC region are its suffocating boot from the neck of the small
experiencing unbearable pain because of irre- entrepreneur and businessman from the
sponsible monetary policies that are ruining CEMAC area.
thousands of lives and businesses. The excuse The time has come for CEMAC economies
for the implementation of clearly disastrous to take advantage of incentives offered by the
monetary policies to safeguard the parity of a African Continental Free Trade Agreement
currency whose economy is in free fall no longer (ACFTA) for their development and diversi-
convinces anyone. fication. And above all, the time has come for
Does BEAC’s Governor work for the Abbas Mahamat Tolli to step aside from his
strengthening and development of CEMAC’s position as Governor of the BEAC and allow
business ecosystem, or is he at the service of cer- people with the macroeconomic vision that the
tain interests whose geostrategic objective could current times require and that the CEMAC zone
be to see the region totally financially destroyed deserves.
and indefinitely in the economic mess in which CEMAC businessmen and women are sim-
the six countries find themselves? ply crying out: “We want to breathe.”
The African Energy Chamber (AEC) invites
the Governor of BEAC and his team to partic- Leoncio Amada NZE is the executive president
ipate in the upcoming African Energy Week of the African Energy Chamber (AEC) CEMAC
(AEW) 2022 that will take place on October zone and President of APEX INDUSTRIES SA.
18-21 in Cape Town, where, among other Article reprinted courtesy of AEC. ™

Week 39 29•September•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P5