Policy monitor: Bank of Central African States holds at 4.5% with inflation at 4%

The Bank of Central African States's benchmark policy rate stands at 4.5%, unchanged at its most recent review. This briefing sets out the data behind the stance, drawn from CBAN's Cameroon dataset.

Headline consumer price inflation is running at 4% year on year in the latest reading tracked by CBAN, down from 4.2% in the prior reading. That puts the real policy rate — the benchmark rate minus headline inflation — at roughly 0.5 percentage points, a restrictive setting by historical standards.

On the currency side, the Central African CFA franc trades near 605 per US dollar, up 1.1% since the start of the year. Gross official reserves stand at roughly $12.4 billion. Exchange-rate pass-through into consumer prices is one of the strongest inflation channels in most African economies, which is why these two indicators move together in policy deliberations.

The BEAC's statutory mandate: Monetary stability for the six-member Central African Economic and Monetary Community under the CFA franc peg.

The wider economy is growing at around 3.9% a year on the estimates CBAN tracks, with nominal output of about $49 billion. Growth, inflation and the exchange rate form the three-way trade-off every Monetary Policy Committee weighs.

The next scheduled monetary policy decision is 28 September 2026. CBAN tracks every African MPC date in the economic calendar, and this briefing is refreshed as new official data is released.