Accra (Ghana), November 19, 2019 – A seminar on the recent economic situation and short-term economic forecasts for Cabo Verde and the Anglophone countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was launched on Tuesday, 2019-2020, in Accra, Ghana, on the initiative of the West Africa Sub-Regional Office of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (SRO-WA/ECA).
The general objective of the SRO-WA/ECA for organising this meeting is to contribute to the efforts undertaken to have a global view in the short- and medium-term on the socio-economic indicators of the ECOWAS zone.
It also aims to understand the monitoring tools used by countries, to compare the analyses of the recent economic situations of these countries, taking into account the international environment, to infer the main trends that will guide the economy of the sub-region in the short-term and to have a general approach for the forecasts of the economic aggregates of the countries of the sub-region (growth, inflation, budget balances and balance of payments). This approach will take into account the sub-regional scope while respecting specific national characteristics.
For the Director of the SRO-WA/ECA, Bakary Dosso, "the availability of harmonised and up-to-date gender-sensitive statistics to facilitate evidence-based policy making is of paramount importance".
As a result, Bakary Dosso continued, "The ECA aims to be the first point of contact for Member States seeking data to inform their political decisions".
"In order to have a full view of the entire economic dynamics of the ECOWAS region, our office has decided to extend the organisation of these seminars and policy dialogues to all the countries of our sub-region, with the technical collaboration of AFRISTAT", explained the Director of the SRO-WA/ECA.
This three-day technical meeting is being held in the form of plenary sessions, with presentations by the countries and institutions present, followed by discussions and recommendations.
It was organised for statisticians and economists in charge of short-term statistics and short-term forecasting within States. Each country is represented at this seminar by a forecaster engaged in the work of official forecasts and a statistician involved in the work of monitoring the short-term economic situation (monitoring of the evolution of prices, indicators of production in industry, agriculture, foreign trade, quarterly GDPs, etc.). It has also brought together experts from the ECOWAS, the ECA, the Economic and Statistical Observatory for Sub-Saharan Africa (AFRISTAT), the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), the West African Monetary Agency (WAMA) and the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI).
For more information, please contact: Tahirou Gouro, Communication Officer, ECA-SRO/WA,
Email: gouro2@un.org
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org