The Council of Ministers of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) held on Friday, June 24, 2022, at the headquarters of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) in Dakar, the second ordinary session of the year 2022. Following discussions among senior finance officials, conclusions and recommendations were approved.
During this second ordinary session of the year 2022, the Council of Ministers considered the Biannual Implementation Report of the Multilateral Surveillance of the first half of 2022. It noted that the EU’s economic growth rate has returned to its pre-crisis level, rising to 6.1% in 2021 from 1.8% a year earlier. It welcomed the efforts undertaken by the Member States in the management of public finances. The session was held under the chairmanship of Mr. Sani YAYA, Minister of Economy and Finance of the Togolese Republic, its current President. The Council noted that economic activity took place in a context of inflationary surge with an average annual inflation rate of 3.6% compared to 2.1% in 2020, in particular linked to the rise in food prices following the bad cereal season recorded in 2021. The Council also noted that the outlook for the year 2022 remains favourable with a growth rate of 6.0%, assuming continued global economic recovery and better control of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures to mitigate the negative impact of the Ukrainian crisis on economies. The Council noted that these prospects remain, however, weakened by the uncertainty over the duration of the crisis in Ukraine and its impact on the rise in the prices of certain essential products and on the prices of raw materials, the persistence of the security crisis in the Sahel area and its extension to coastal areas, as well as the health crisis.
The Council adopted the Recommendation on economic policy guidelines in the Member States of the Union for the year 2023. With this Recommendation, the Council invites the Member States to continue to strengthen measures to limit the impact of price increases and to preserve the purchasing power of the population, particularly the most vulnerable, while continuing efforts to control the budget deficit. The Council of Ministers adopted the Decision defining and determining the aggregate tax revenue in the WAEMU Member States in order to determine a common methodology for calculating this aggregate used by the Member States for assessing the convergence criteria in the context of multilateral surveillance of the macroeconomic policies of the Member States. It should be noted that the Council also adopted the Decision defining and determining the content of the wage bill in the WAEMU Member States, which establishes a common approach specifying the components of the wage bill aggregate used by the Member States to calculate the convergence criteria for the multilateral surveillance of the macroeconomic policies of the Member States. The Council adopted the Regulation on the Harmonization of Pharmaceutical Regulations in the WAEMU Member States, which aims to update the regulatory framework defined by Regulation No.02/2005/CM/WAEMU of 4 July 2005 on the Harmonization of Pharmaceutical Regulations in the WAEMU Member States in order to allow the efficient continuation of the harmonization process and facilitate the implementation of the adopted Community texts.
The Council also considered and adopted the Decision adopting the guidelines for the regulation of medical devices in the WAEMU Member States. This Decision aims to establish a harmonised legislative framework enabling the national pharmaceutical regulatory authorities in the Community area to introduce and strengthen the approval and market surveillance of medical devices made available to the public.
The Council adopted the Decision adopting the Guidelines for the Harmonization of the Regulation of Food for Infants and Young Children and Dietary and Dietary Products in the Member States of the WAEMU, which aims to strengthen and harmonize the legislative framework for the import, marketing and market surveillance of food for infants and young children, dietary and dietary products. The Council also adopted the Decision adopting the Model Organizational Plan for Gender Institutionalization in the Member States of the Union, the objective of which is to provide the Member States of the Union with a model mechanism to enable them to make gender mainstreaming effective in all sectoral departments in order to work towards the reduction of inequalities in all sectors. Thus, a good economic outlook is looming for the Uemoa countries for the second half of 2022.
