West Africa: EBID Releases ECOWAS Development Outlook

8 August 2022
The New Dawn (Monrovia)

Proposes increase in sub-regional trade and structural transformation

The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has officially released the 2022, edition of the West Africa Development Outlook (WADO).

WADO takes stock of socioeconomic developments of the previous year and presents a macroeconomic outlook for the year 2022.

The WADO discusses the socio-economic challenges of the times and postulates policy interventions that could help ease these challenges.

The 2022 WADO, which is themed, "Navigating Global Shocks through Structural Transformation and Trade", discusses how the ECOWAS sub-region can mitigate the recent price escalation by increasing local production capacities, improving intra-regional trade and embarking on a deliberate structural transformation agenda. It also discusses the causes of the recent price hikes as being structural and the need for cautious monetary policy interventions.

While announcing the release of the WADO, the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of EBID, Dr. George Agyekum Donkor, emphasized the importance of the review of key economic indicators as a way of highlighting the impact of recent global events on ECOWAS economies and postulating mitigating actions for policy makers' consideration. He stated that the WADO also highlights the opportunities and threats in the sub-region to guide the investment decisions of existing and would-be investors.

The Director of Research and Strategic Planning of the Bank, Mr. MacDonald Saye Goanue, spoke about the challenging macroeconomic environment the Community faces as a result of which growth prospects have been downgraded. The elevated food and energy prices pose a great risk to fiscal consolidation and debt sustainability while threatening to increase current account deficits and exerting pressure on local currencies. There is the need for fiscal and monetary policy synchronicity to successfully navigate these challenges.

The WADO is accessible per this link https://www.bidc-ebid.org/en/publications/

ABOUT EBID

ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) is a leading regional investment and development bank, owned by the fifteen (15) ECOWAS Member States, namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. Based in Lomé, Togolese Republic, the Bank is committed to financing developmental projects and programs covering diverse initiatives from infrastructure and basic amenities, rural development and environment, industry, and social services sectors, through its private and public sector windows. EBID intervenes through long, medium, and short-term loans, equity participation, lines of credit, refinancing, financial engineering operations and related services. www.bidc-ebid.or

Read the original article on New Dawn.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2022 The New Dawn. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.