West African bloc UEMOA cuts 2009 growth forecast

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The eight-nation West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) cut its 2009 economic growth forecast to 3.2 percent from 4.7 percent, Ivory Coast's top finance official said on Friday.

The slower growth for the bloc -- currently headed by Ivory Coast and also including Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo -- was the result of the global financial crisis, Ivory Coast Economy Minister Charles Koffi said.

Economic growth in the union, formed in 1994 to integrate the economies of countries using the CFA franc as a currency, depends largely on output and price of commodities like cocoa, cotton, and gold.

Ivory Coast is the world's top cocoa producer, accounting for some 40 percent of the global market.