The members of the statutory Council of Ministers of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) met this Friday, June 21, 2019 for the holding of their second ordinary session for the current year. It is the main agency of the Central Bank of West African States in Cotonou which hosted its meetings under the leadership of Romuald Wadagni, Beninese Minister of the Economy and Chairman in office of the Statutory Council of Ministers . The UEMOA Commission and the Regional Council for Savings and Financial Markets (CREPMF), are the two specialized institutions of the UEMOA whose files furnished this meeting of the Council of Ministers. It is Romuald Wadagni who detailed the various files on which these meetings dwelled. At Commission level, it was a question of examining the semi-annual implementation report of Multilateral Surveillance, June 2019. This report assesses the economic and financial performance of the Member States of the Union as of December 31, 2018. It provides indications on the forecasts for the year 2019, in the light of the evolution of the economic situation. Finally, it proposes economic policy guidelines for the year 2020. In addition to this file finalized by the statutory experts at their meeting held in Ouagadougou from May 27 to 31, 2019 mentioned above, the second on which the ministers examined concerns the redeveloped multiannual program of Niger for the period 2019- 2023. The Chairman-in-Office of the Council recalled the importance of examining these first two points which relate to multilateral surveillance. According to Romuald Wadagni, 2019 is the horizon set in the Union’s Convergence, Growth and Solidarity Pact. Several other files of the UEMOA Commission were studied by the participants: the draft Decision adopting an action plan for the optimal mobilization of tax revenues in the member states; three files relating to draft Regulations aimed at improving the implementation of the Common External Tariff; three other points relating to Public Private Partnership (PPP). Under the Regional Council for Public Savings and Financial Markets (CREPMF), it mainly involved the examination of the financial statements of the Body as of December 31, 2018 and the appointment of new members. Clearly, the Cotonou meeting holds great hopes for the development of WAEMU member states. PFC / MEF
