Leaders of the West African sub-region met yesterday, with the issue of a common currency high on the agenda.
By the end of the meeting, which was held in Niamey, the capital of Niger, they had resolved to speed up the processes leading to the attainment and use of a common currency in the sub-region by the year 2020.
That was the fourth meeting of the Presidential Taskforce on a common currency for the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) which membership includes President Akufo-Addo and his colleague Presidents from Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Niger, Muhammadu Buhari, Alassane Ouattara and Mahamadou Issoufou respectively.
Togolese president and chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, also took part in the proceedings.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the day’s meeting, members of the taskforce took note of the report of the Ministerial Committee meeting held earlier, and acknowledged the quality of the conclusions, as well as the relevance of the recommendations made – which substantive parts relate to the measures for the acceleration of the ECOWAS single currency programme.
The taskforce appreciated the progress made by all ECOWAS institutions involved in the conduct of the Single Currency Roadmap activities, and reaffirmed its commitment to the pursuit and the acceleration of the economic, financial and monetary integration agenda.
Endorsing the main recommendations of the Ministerial Committee, the taskforce urged member states to pursue the structural reforms of their respective economies to help them deal with fluctuations in the prices of raw materials and enable their economies to be more resilient to exogenous shocks.
Additionally, the taskforce urged member states to take the necessary measures, including the attainment of the convergence criteria, necessary for the creation of the ECOWAS single currency by 2020.
The communiqué indicated that the taskforce had “instructed the ministerial committee to meet within three months to propose a new roadmap to accelerate the creation of the single currency by 2020.
In this framework, a gradual approach can be undertaken, where a few countries, which are ready, can start the monetary union, whilst the other countries join later.”
The taskforce will hold its next meeting in Accra in February 2018.
Buhari’s Warning
However, President Muhammadu Buhari has urged ECOWAS member countries to be careful in pushing for a single currency by the year 2020, drawing attention to the challenges faced by the EU in realizing the same goal.
In his speech at the meeting, he reiterated that the necessary economic fundamentals among countries continue to differ over the years, making it more difficult to pull through with the project.
Nigeria had earlier withdrawn from the process because its key questions and concerns were ignored.
Background
It will be recalled that at the Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government on 25th October, 2013, the Presidents of Ghana and Niger were appointed to oversee the creation of the single currency in a timely manner.
The two presidents constituted a taskforce, which membership included representatives of the President of Ghana and Niger; Ministers of Finance of Ghana and Niger; Governors of the eight Central Banks of ECOWAS member states; ECOWAS and UEMOA Commissions; West African Monetary Agency (WAMA) and the West African Monetary Institute, to advise them periodically on the monetary integration programme.
The membership of the taskforce was reviewed in 2015 to include the presidents of Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria, as well as the ministers of finance of the two countries.
The inaugural meeting of the presidential taskforce was held on 20th and 21st February, 2014 in Niamey. Subsequently, two other meetings were held in Accra on 7th and 8th July, 2014, with the last one held in Niamey from 4th to 6th February, 2015.
The main objectives of the third meeting were to examine the revised roadmap on the realisation of the ECOWAS single currency by 2020; a proposal from the ECOWAS Commission on the creation of an ECOWAS Monetary Institute by 2018; and the concern raised by the WAMZ Convergence Council on the revised macroeconomic criteria adopted by the 45th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government held in Accra on 10th July, 2014.
After the third meeting, it was agreed, among other things, that the Central Bank financing criterion be reclassified as a primary criterion because of its strategic importance to monetary and price stability.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent