Overview
The first case has been identified in mid-March and the number of new cases has declined sharply over the last two months, owing in part to the discontinuation of widespread testing. To help contain the pandemic, the authorities adopted a response plan for the health sector and enacted social distancing measures, including the closing of borders, schools, and most public establishments, a ban on meetings of more than 15 people, and restrictions on the movement of people from Bangui. They have also been working on a more exhaustive plan, which, in addition to the strengthening of the health sector, would provide financial support to the most vulnerable households and companies.
Travel Restrictions
1. Bangui (BGF) is closed.
- This does not apply to:
- emergency flights;
- technical landings;
- humanitarian, medevac and repatriation flights;
- flights with a special authorization
2. Airline crew are subject to mandatory quarantine for the duration of their rotation or rest period.
3. Passengers arriving from a country with local transmission of Coronavirus (COVID-19) must self-quarantine for 21 days upon arrival.
Source : IATA Timatic
Economic Measures
Reopening of the Economy. As the number of new cases has been declining, the president has announced some reopening measures to enable the restart of the economic activity. Restaurants, bars and places of worship have been allowed to re-open. Moreover, international travels have resumed gradually, and most travel restrictions have been lifted, and the quarantine for people arriving from abroad has been reduced from 21 to 14 days. This reopening is conditional on following some measures such as frequent hand washing and social distancing. However, self-quarantine for confirmed cases remain in place..
Key Policy Responses as of September 24, 2020
FISCAL
-
The response plan for the health sector was prepared in strong collaboration with the WHO, with an estimated cost of 27 billion of FCFA (1.9 percent of GDP). It goes beyond an immediate response plan and contains measures to strengthen the ability of the healthcare system to deal with such pandemics in the future. It notably aims at: (i) providing medical care of confirmed cases, (ii) improving the monitoring of the country’s points of entry; and (iii) strengthening the capacities of the medical staff, laboratories and hospitals. In addition to the health sector plan, the authorities are envisaging providing financial support to the most vulnerable households and companies, while increasing access to water. Other specific fiscal measures to help the private sector, such as tax relief or suspension and easing of public procurement procedures, are also being considered. The government has requested the help of its development partners to finance this plan, through grants and loans. A draft supplementary budget law has been adopted and includes around 44 billion of CFAF of donors additional support related to Covid-19. The additional spending related to Covid-19 amounts for about 15 billion of CFAF, mainly broken down as 12 billion for prevention and management of the pandemic, 0.5 billion as support to vulnerable household and 2.6 billion for the support to the private sector.
MONETARY AND MACRO-FINANCIAL
-
-
On March 27, 2020, BEAC announced a set of monetary easing measures including a decrease of the policy rate by 25 bps to 3.25 percent, a decrease of the Marginal Lending Facility rate by 100 bps to 5 percent, a suspension of absorption operations, an increase of liquidity provision from FCFA 240 to 500 billion, and a widening of the range of private instruments accepted as collateral in monetary operations. The MPC also supported BEAC’s management’s intent to propose to reduce haircuts applicable to private instruments accepted as collateral for refinancing operations, and to postpone by one-year principal repayment of consolidated central bank’s credits to member states, but these possible additional measures are not effective yet. Further, at its July 22, 2020, extraordinary Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting the BEAC announced a new program of government securities purchases for the next 6 months. The purchase program is meant as a safety net, to ensure full cover of government securities issuances during the second half of 2020, while being consistent with BEAC Charter which prohibits direct monetary financing. The program will be based on revised securities issuance plans for each country, consistent with the latest revised budget laws and the budget financing frameworks agreed under the IMF programs. The BEAC also decided to resume liquidity injections with longer maturity, of up to one year.
On March 25, 2020, the COBAC informed banks that they can use their capital conservation buffers of 2.5% to absorb pandemic-related losses but requested banks to adopt a restrictive policy with regard to dividend distribution.
EXCHANGE RATE AND BALANCE OF PAYMENTS
Source : IMF & WB
Civic Freedom Tracker
No data available
