The Authority of ECOWAS Heads of
State and Government on Saturday adopted ECO as the name of the single currency
to be issued in January 2020.
ECOWAS is made up of 15-member
countries. They are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia,
Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra
Leone, Togo.
The leaders at their 55th
Ordinary Session in Abuja endorsed the name while congratulating the
Ministerial Committee on the Single Currency for the considerable progress
recorded in the implementation of the revised roadmap.
In the communiqué read by
Mustapha Suleiman, Nigeria’s Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
the Authority instructed the ECOWAS Commission to work in collaboration with
West African Monetary Agency.
The leaders also instructed the
commission to work with West African Monetary Institute and the central banks
to accelerate the implementation of the revised roadmap with regard to the
symbol of the single currency.
The Authority also directed the
commission and the central banks to accelerate the operation of the Special
Fund for the financing of programmes in the revised Roadmap for the ECOWAS
Single Currency Programme.
“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.”
Furthermore, the ECOWAS Chairman,
President Issoufou Mahamadou of Niger, said the revised roadmap still
stipulated that the single currency would be issued 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.
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