Monetary Policy and Emergence: What Lessons Can WAEMU Learn?

Abstract

In a rapidly changing environment in which the majority of countries in the Economic Community of West African States (WAEMU) zone have put the wheels in motion to lay the foundations of emergence, it is a matter of urgency that the zone’s monetary policy undergo therapy. The aim of this study is to revisit monetary policies in developed countries, emerging countries and developing countries, more specifically the countries of the West African sub-region, in order to learn the appropriate lessons. The various lessons of monetary policy relate as much to the objective and mission of the central bank as to operationalization of the policy. Four avenues should be explored: (i) an imperative objective of growth for Central Bank for West African States (BCEAO), (ii) a need to revise the inflation target, (iii) the obligation to achieve a dynamic, active and proactive monetary policy, (iv) a requirement for inward reflection on the level of flexibility of the region’s currency.