The Ministry of Economy and Finance of Benin, received the GlobalMarkets 2019 award for best sovereign debt manager in Sub-Saharan Africa. This award was presented on October 19, 2019 in Washington DC on the occasion of the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. This prize rewards the efforts of the Ministry of Economy and Finance to reveal Benin to international investors. Indeed, 2019 was a pivotal year for Benin with the issuance of the first international bond of 500 million euros at very competitive conditions. This feat is based on the substantial progress made since 2018 with, on the one hand, the obtaining of an inaugural “B +” financial rating placing Benin among the leading countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and on the other hand, the reprofiling of public debt via an innovative structure hailed by all international observers including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. GlobalMarkets congratulates Benin in particular for the excellent performance achieved during the inaugural bond issue, in a demanding market environment, all the more so for a first-time issuer: “The beginnings of the Republic of Benin on the bond market were , in many ways, a process management model ”. GlobalMarkets also underlines that Benin has been able to gain the confidence of investors thanks to the efforts made to reduce the budget deficit while creating the conditions for strong and sustainable economic growth. Thus this distinction is a consecration of the prudent management of public debt by Benin in a context of economic openness. Cotonou, October 29, 2019 The Ministry of Economy and Finance