MINISTÈRE DES FINANCES ET DU BUDGET
DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DU
Meeting focuses on the obstacles to the participation of banks to awards
"Considering the obstacles to the participation of authorized primary dealers working in Congo to the government bonds via open subscription market, in comparison with the other countries of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community(CAEMC)" was the main item on the agenda of the meeting chaired on April 1st, 2017 at Radisson hotel in Brazzaville, by Armel Fridelin Mbouloukoue, representative of the Congolese minister of finance, budget and public portfolio.
The stock market, a mechanism to which Congo adhered to in April 2007, enabled the Congolese Treasury to issue open subscription securities ten years later in February 2017. It has many advantages. It allows to borrow at less cost in local currency, by then reducing the exchange risk, to mobilize and recycle domestic savings in projects and programmes of interest for the people of the Central African sub-region and to promote the emergence of a financial culture etc.
Unfortunately, six months ago after the Congolese Treasury issued its first securities, the rate of involvement of primary dealers, that is, the banks operating in Congo and from which the state can borrow money to finance projects, is weak.
Contrary to the rate of involvement of banks in neighboring countries like Cameroon and Gabon, in March for example, for an amount of 10 billion cfa francs issued by the Congolese Treasury, only three primary dealers out of thirteen(13) of the Congolese network got involved. In June, only one primary dealer got involved for securities amounting to 5 billion CFA francs.
In order to reverse the trend, Gatien Ondaye Obili, Head of the department of credits, financial market and bank supervision at the Bank of Central African States, made a presentation on the financial market and its development in the countries of CAEMC between May 2016 and May 2017. He said that the aim of the meeting of August 1st, 2017 was first - to know the reasons why there was a weak rate of involvement of primary dealers and bidding to award sessions by authorized banks in Congo , second - to draft a working road map between the treasury and banks, third-to get primary dealers, pension funds, and institutional investors, private persons, insurers and so on interested in the market of securities, because it offers many investment opportunities.
Press department of the ministry of des finance