Banque Centrale des Etats de I'Afrique de I'Ouest,Central Bank of Burkina Faso

By: EconomyWatch   Date: 9 September 2010

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It was in 1959 that the Banque Centrale des Etats de L'Afrique de L'Ouest (BCEAO) or the Central Bank of the West African States was established as the sole authority of note issue of the former French West African Territories.

In 1962, the bank was reorganized as the joint note-issue bank of seven West African nations including the land-locked Burkina Faso. Since then, the BCEAO is in charge of controlling the Banking System in the country. Burkina Faso is one of the most backward and poorest economies in the world, a fact reflected in its low per capita income of $1300. The economy is prevalently agrarian, in spite of high rate of drought in the country. High unemployment is another factor behind the country's poor growth rate. An estimated three million people of Burkina Faso live in Cote d'Ivoire and send tens of billions of CFA Francs back to Burkina Faso each year.

The government in the country has been known for heavily regulating and controlling the banking system through its direct ownership of many of the country's banks.
However, the banking system has undergone tremendous restructuring lately and has been subject to more strict supervision since the early '90s. As the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) points out, "the government in the country has adopted the principle of limiting state participation in the banking sector to a maximum of 25%". The EIU further adds that banking supervision in the country is showing signs of improvement as a result of reforms initiated by the BCEAO. The International Monetary Fund report is also encouraging as it mentions that all banks met minimum capital requirements as of June 2004.

The Address and Contact details of the bank is as follows:

Banque Centrale des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest

Address: B.P. 3108 Dakar SENEGAL
Phone No.: ++221-839 05 00
Fax: ++221-823 93 35


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