The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) opened three liquidity auctions for banks across the West African Monetary Union on Monday, 26 October 2026, with a combined maximum offer of CFA6,550 billion. The main seven-day refinancing operation is set at CFA6,425 billion, down from CFA6,450 billion in the preceding auction.
The announced amount is an offer of central-bank funding, not money already allotted to lenders. In a notice dated 23 October, the BCEAO set a deadline of 10:00 GMT on Monday for banks to submit bids. The minimum bidding rate remains at 3%, the central bank's main policy rate.
Alongside the seven-day operation, the BCEAO offered CFA100 billion in a 28-day monthly window and CFA25 billion through a 182-day recovery facility. The latter carries a fixed 3% rate and requires eligible recovery bonds as collateral. All three operations have a value date of 27 October.
The weekly ceiling is CFA25 billion below the previous CFA6,450 billion offer. Banks requested CFA6,315.8 billion in that earlier operation, according to BCEAO figures, at a weighted-average rate of 3.2942%. The difference between the amount offered and the bids received was CFA134.2 billion.
The same official document shows outstanding refinancing across the BCEAO's regular facilities, excluding marginal lending, at CFA6,549.2 billion on 20 October, compared with CFA6,568.9 billion one week earlier. That CFA19.7 billion decline concerns loans already outstanding, rather than funds to be awarded in the new auction.
Taking its various intervention windows into account, the central bank put the overall liquidity injection at CFA6,700 billion. This figure is distinct from the CFA6,550 billion in fresh tender offers scheduled for Monday. BCEAO refinancing provides short-term liquidity to banks in the eight member countries, including Benin.