At the end of 2020, the decentralized financial systems (DFS) of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU) falling under article 44 of the law regulating DFIs (level of activity reaching a threshold of 2 billion FCFA of outstanding deposits and loans) posted a balance sheet total of 2,561.044 billion FCFA (3.841 billion euros), according to data from the Banking Commission based in Abidjan.
The financial and statistical data analyzed by this Commission concern 182 SFDs, or 96.8% of large institutions.
Compared to 2019 when it stood at CFAF 2,347.851 billion, the balance sheet total of these DFIs is up by 9.1%. According to the Banking Commission, this increase is linked to the evolution of assets in Côte d’Ivoire (+ 16.4%), Burkina (+ 14.3%), Niger (+ 12.5%), Mali (+ 9.1%), Benin (+ 6.3%), Togo (+ 5.7%) and Senegal (+ 4.5%).
Regarding the use of MFIs, they increased, in annual variation, by 5.6%, reaching CFAF 1,773.1 billion at the end of 2020. Customer loans represent 81.7% as in 2019. Financial fixed assets totaled 2.2% of jobs during the period under review against 2.5% a year earlier. As for other jobs (investment securities, other fixed assets and various jobs), their share stood at 16.1% against 15.9% in 2019.
Customer loans consolidated by 5.6%, at an annual rate, to stand at CFAF 1,447.9 billion at the end of 2020. They are made up of short-term loans, medium-term loans, long-term loans, bad debts and leasing transactions.
Short-term loans amounted to CFAF 634.2 billion, or 43.8% of total loans, recorded a slight annual decrease of 0.5%. For their part, medium-term loans amounted to CFAF 393.8 billion during the period under review. “Totaling 27.2% of the credits, they showed an annual decline of 7.9%”, specifies the Commission.
As far as they are concerned, long-term loans are valued at CFAF 301.5 billion at the end of 2020, or 20.8% of all loans. They grew by 14.6% year on year.
Net bad debts, established at 118.3 billion FCFA against 42.9 billion FCFA a year earlier, recorded an annual variation of 175.9%. Investment securities are valued at 8.8 billion FCFA (+ 36.1%) while financial fixed assets have fallen by 4.5% over one year, to stand at 39.8 billion. Other fixed assets, on the other hand, increased by 6.4%, year-on-year, to stand at CFAF 124.4 billion in 2020.
As for the various uses (related receivables, inventory accounts, miscellaneous debtors, order and miscellaneous accounts, etc.), their level reached CFAF 152.2 billion, consolidating by 6.4% compared to 2019.
What about the quality of the SFD portfolio? << The outstanding gross bad debts of MFIs falling under article 44 increased by 150.0%, in annual variation, to stand at 134.7 billion FCFA at the level of the Union at the end of 2020 >>, deplores the Banking Commission. The rate of provisioning of bad debts thus came out at 12.2% against 20.4% at the end of the 2019 financial year. The gross and net rates of deterioration of the portfolio stood at 9.2% and 8 respectively. , 2% at the end of 2020, i.e. a decline of 5.3 points and 5.0 percentage points compared to 2019.
