The Director-General,
West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), Dr Olorunsola Olowofeso, has said the
expectation for an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Single
Currency by 2027 is no longer realistic.
Oluwafeso, who spoke
yesterday in Abuja, said this was due to the inability of all the WAMZ
member-states to meet all the required criteria.
He spoke against the
backdrop of the recently held 48th meeting of the Committee of Governors of the
central banks of the member-states of the WAMZ in Abuja.
According to him, it
is unlikely that any of the member-states will satisfy all four primary
convergence criteria on a sustainable basis between 2024 and 2026.
He said: “The quest
for a single currency by WAMZ will take much longer to achieve as the
convergence indicators have declined significantly. The assessment of member
states’ performance reveals that, as of the end of June 2023, all member states
failed to meet all the four primary convergence criteria.
“The zone’s
performance score declined to 29.2 per cent, compared to 41.7 per cent during
the same period in 2022.”
He said the
medium-term projections on macroeconomic convergence suggested that none of the
WAMZ member-states would meet all the primary convergence criteria sustainably
between now and 2027 for the convergence phase of the ECOWAS Single Currency
Roadmap.
Meanwhile, Minister
of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, said Nigeria
remained committed to achieving the WAMZ objectives.
“I am sure we have the wherewithal and
resilience to realise the WAMZ ambition. We must, as a bloc, work together to
strengthen and improve the economies of the zone,” Edun, said.
WAMZ is a group of
six countries within ECOWAS formed in 2000.
Member countries are
Nigeria, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
NAN reports that
ECOWAS its 55th ordinary session in July 2019, the 15-member regional group had
agreed to launch Eco in January 2020.
While eight, mostly
francophone countries — Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau
(Portuguese-speaking), Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo — announced
in December 2019 that they would be changing from the CFA Franc to Eco,
Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia and Gambia, who are all English-speaking,
as well as Guinea, a francophone country, rejected the adoption of Eco.
Former President
Muhammadu Buhari-led government had called for the extension of the take-off.
Nigeria’s position on
the Eco currency is that the convergence criteria have not been met by majority
of the countries,” the Federal Government had said then.
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