W.Africa currency bloc members aim to issue $4.82 bln in debt in 2019

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The eight countries of the West African CFA franc zone plan to issue 2.723 trillion CFA francs ($4.82 billion) in debt in 2019, compared to 2.433 trillion CFA francs in 2018, an official from the regional monetary union's regulator said on Friday.

The total for 2018 was less than the 3.007 trillion CFA francs originally forecast, mostly because of lower than expected debt issuances by Ivory Coast and Mali, said Oulimata Ndiaye, issues operations manager of UMOA-Titres.

The eight-nation Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA) comprises Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Niger and Togo. They share a regional central bank, the BCEAO, and the CFA franc currency, which is pegged to the euro.

($1 = 565.450 CFA francs)

(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Aaron Ross and Sandra Maler)