ECOWAS nations adopt ECO as single currency

The ECOWAS Authority on Saturday accepted ECO as the name of the single currency to be issued in January 2020.

ECOWAS consists of 15 Member countries. They are Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso.

At their 55th Ordinary Session in Abuja, the leaders supported the name while congratulating the Single Currency Ministerial Committee on the significant progress made in implementing the revised roadmap.

The Authority advised the ECOWAS Commission to work in cooperation with the West African Monetary Agency in a statement read by Mustapha Suleiman, Nigeria’s Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The leaders also advised the committee to work with the West African Monetary Institute and the central banks to speed up the application of the revised roadmap on the single currency symbol.

In the amended roadmap for the ECOWAS Single Currency Program, the Authority also directed the committee and central banks to speed up the implementation of the Special Fund for Program Financing.

“It further directs the commission to ensure implementation of the recommendations of the meeting of the ministerial committee held in Abidjan on June 17 and June 18 as well as preparation and implementation of the Communication Strategy for the single currency programme.

“The Authority takes note of the 2018 macroeconomic convergence report. It noted the worsening of the macroeconomic convergence and urges member states to do more to improve on their performance in view of the imminent deadline.”

In addition, Niger’s ECOWAS Chairman, President Issoufou Mahamadou, said the revised roadmap still stipulated the issuance of the single currency in January 2020.

“We have not changed that but we will continue with assessment between now and then.

“We are of the view that countries that are ready will launch the single currency and countries that are not yet ready will join the programme as they comply with all six convergence criteria.”

He also said the region had “a true strong political will” to accomplish the single currency quickly.

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