On 13 February 2024 in Paris, the Governor of the Banque de France, François Villeroy de Galhau, and the President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Joachim Nagel, formally launched an EU-funded pilot project for selected African central banks, in the presence of high-level representatives from all the participating African central banks.[i]

The project will be jointly coordinated by the Banque de France and the Bundesbank and has been awarded €2 million in EU funding. Seeking to promote macroeconomic and financial stability in Africa, it will focus on corporate governance, financial stability, resilience, strategic planning and international cooperation. On the ESCB side, the ECB and the central banks of Belgium, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Lithuania and Slovakia will be joining the central banks of France and Germany as project partners.

François Villeroy de Galhau and Joachim Nagel spoke about Franco-German cooperation and its prominent role in the project, but also used their speeches to emphasise the fundamental importance of international cooperation and inter-institutional dialogue on the African continent as well.

Text: Peter Spicka

Footnote:

[i]   The central banks of Angola, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Tunisia, as well as the Banque Centrale des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (Central Bank of West African States, or BCEAO) and the Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale (Bank of Central African States, or BEAC).