Govt restates commitment to ECOWAS single currency
From Oghogho Obayuwana, Abuja
NIGERIA has again committed itself to the attainment of the single currency project of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
ECOWAS had earlier given a favourable assessment to the country's fiscal policy, which it described as being compliant to the single currency project.
Minister of Finance, Dr. Mansur Muhtar, gave the commitment yesterday at the meeting of the ECOWAS convergence council in Abuja.
The currency project is billed to replace the present arrangement where there are multiple currencies from Anglophone West African countries vis-a-vis the CFA of the French-speaking countries. A merger to create a single monetary zone is supposed to be created by the end of the present decade to facilitate trade and greater integration.
The ECOWAS convergence council is made up of the ministers of finance and Central Bank governors of member-states. Addressing them yesterday, Muhtar said: "Let me once again reaffirm Nigeria's unflinching support for the attainment of the ECOWAS single currency project."
He noted that it was in demonstration of this commitment that Nigeria, in the preceding week, " hosted the WAMZ (West Africa Monetary Zone) to review the state of preparedness of the member-states in meeting the convergence criteria and chart the way forward for an early realisation of the integration agenda as well as harmonise the WAMZ member-states' agenda with that of ECOWAS."
ECOWAS commission president, Ibn Chambas, stressed at yesterday's meeting that the implementation of the community's monetary co-operation programme must remain on course because "it constitutes a critical milestone in the realisation of the ECOWAS Vision 2020. Time is now crucial and of great essence to us in the realisation of the regional common currency. It is incumbent upon all of us to step up commitment and accelerate efforts towards the realisation of this goal in a timely and credible manner."
He added: "You would recall that, mindful of the directive of the authority in June 2007 and delays encountered so far in achieving macro-economic convergence in the region, the last session of this Convergence Council on November 22, 2008 established an inter-institutional working group under the Chairmanship of ECOWAS Commission to map out a single concrete and realistic strategy for achieving the ECOWAS single currency objective, taking into account all the studies previously carried out on the monetary integration issue."
According to him, "the working group has met and produced a document which was examined by the technical monitoring committee last week. The outcome of the deliberations of this committee will form the basis of our current meeting."
The president also reminded the ministers that crucial to the effective implementation of the ECOWAS monetary co-operation programme is an equally effective operationalisation of the ECOWAS multilateral surveillance mechanism.
ECOWAS now requires all its member-states to continue to base their national economic policies on the goals of the ECOWAS multilateral surveillance mechanism, which will facilitate the convergence of their economies and provide the overall frame-work for the achievement of a single monetary zone in the region.
