West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU): Selected Issues
IMF Staff Country Reports, March 29, 2019
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Bibliographic details
- Published: March 29, 2019
- Series: IMF Staff Country Reports
Overview
- Purpose: Review WAEMU's regional macroeconomic surveillance framework to control all sources of debt accumulation and ensure debt sustainability.
- Goal of the framework: Ensure the sustainability of national fiscal policies and their consistency with the common monetary policy.
- Document type: Selected Issues paper summarizing diagnostics and policy recommendations.
Key findings
- Fiscal deficits have been the main driver of public debt across WAEMU member countries.
- The size of residual factors contributing to public debt has varied greatly among WAEMU member countries.
- Weak monitoring of below-the-budget-line operations contributes to hidden fiscal risks and undermines adherence to the WAEMU fiscal deficit rule.
- Treasury practices that allow pre-financing arrangements and weak expenditure controls exacerbate debt accumulation risks.
- Lack of public dissemination of the WAEMU progress report and limited peer-to-peer learning reduce momentum for necessary reforms.
Policy recommendations
- Adjust the WAEMU Macroeconomic Surveillance Framework to more effectively set the region’s public debt on a sustainable path.
- Curb below-the-budget-line operations in addition to adhering to the WAEMU fiscal deficit rule.
- Improve monitoring of fiscal risks and build adequate budget provisions to address identified risks before they materialize.
- Strengthen Treasury practices to eliminate recourse to pre-financing arrangements and tighten control over expenditure.
- Publicly disseminate the WAEMU progress report to increase transparency and accountability.
- Strengthen peer-to-peer learning among member countries to accelerate reform implementation.
Implementation priorities and expected outcomes
- Enhanced surveillance framework adjustments aimed at comprehensive control of debt accumulation sources.
- Improved fiscal risk monitoring and budget provisioning to reduce unexpected fiscal pressures.
- Reformed Treasury operations to reduce off-budget financing and improve expenditure control.
- Greater transparency and regional knowledge sharing to foster reform momentum across member countries.
International Monetary Fund. African Dept. "West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU): Selected Issues", IMF Staff Country Reports 2019, 091 (2019), accessed 9/10/2026
Content in this bundle
- 1wauea2019002