PNN – At the end of its 66th regular meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced that it will try to implement the West African Single Currency (ECO) from 2027.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network from the Nigerian “Leadership” news site, the launch of the “Eco” single currency in West Africa was supposed to be done in 2020, but it was postponed due to the effects of the Corona epidemic, and now 2027 has been set as the new date for this single currency to go into circulation.
The Economic Community of West African States noted in a statement that it has adopted the criteria proposed by the High Committee to identify countries that will use the single currency in the first phase and those that will do so later.
ECOWAS, in cooperation with the West African Financial Agency (WAMA), has mandated the ECOWAS Commission to set these criteria in the form of a specific protocol or guideline for the ECOWAS Financial Union Agreement.
ECOWAS also approved the recommendations of the High Committee on the financial aspects of this work, including the costs, sources of financing and terms of doing work, which are required to implement the necessary reforms in order to launch the “Eco” single currency.
The member countries and their central banks have been asked to implement urgent measures to implement financial obligations in order to make these institutions operational. It is expected that the introduction and start of the use of the single currency of the ECOWAS region will facilitate trade exchanges in this region and be a stimulus for further economic growth in this region.
15 countries, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cape Verde (Cabo Verde), Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are members of the West Asian Economic Community. The three countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which have abandoned civilian governments and have military regimes in recent years, have left this organization, which has made ECOWAS face a serious challenge. At its summit in Nigeria this week, ECOWAS gave the three countries six months to reconsider leaving the organization.