The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and
Development (EBID) has officially released the 2022 edition of the West Africa
Development Outlook (WADO), which 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, emphasised 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 a fiscal and monetary policy synchronicity to
successfully navigate these challenges.
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.
Source: bidc-ebid.org