New deadline for Eco take-off

Dr Ibn Chambas - ECOWAS Boss

Members of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) have resolved to extend the take-off date of Eco, the region's single currency, from January 2010 to June 2014.

This came to light at the just-ended ECOWAS summit in Nigeria.

WITH the exception of The Gambia, all the countries opting for the adoption of the Eco as their common currency in the West African sub-region are yet to meet the conditions for the implementation of the policy.

This was made public sometime ago at a week-long meeting of the Technical Committee of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) in Abuja. The defaulting countries are Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The meeting is assessing the implementation of the convergent criteria set by WAMZ for the five member-states that want to adopt the Eco currency. The countries are Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The primary criteria are inflation at single digit; fiscal deficit/Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio of less than four percent; central bank's financing of fiscal deficit of less than 10 percent and gross external reserves to cover at least three months.

WAMZ was formally launched by the heads of state and government of the five nations in December 2000, with the objective of establishing a common central bank and introducing a single currency by 2003, which was later postponed to 2005 and then 2009.

From Business Desk