ECOWAS single currency launch delayed beyond 2027 deadline — WAMZ boss

The expectation for an ECOWAS single currency to be launched by 2027 is no longer realistic, according to the director-general of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), Olorunsola Olowofeso, who imputed the delay to the inability of all the WAMZ member states to meet all the required criteria.

“The quest for a single currency by WAMZ will take much longer to achieve,” Olowofeso said in a recent interview in Abuja. Speaking after the 48th meeting of the Committee of Governors of the Central Banks of WAMZ member states, Olowofeso highlighted that none of the member states is likely to consistently satisfy all four primary convergence criteria between 2024 and 2026. He also noted that as of June 2023, none of the member states had met all four primary convergence criteria, with the zone’s performance score dropping to 29.2% from 41.7% in the same period of 2022.

But Wale Edun, Nigeria’s finance minister and coordinating minister of the economy, has expressed the hope that the goals set for the WAMZ are still achievable even though member states have again failed to achieve the set convergence criteria. The four primary criteria to be achieved by each WAMZ member state include inflation rate of 5%; fiscal deficit GDP ratio of 4%; limiting of deficit financing by the central bank to 10% and maintaining sufficient level of gross official foreign exchange reserves of at least 6 months of imports.

To assure other member states of Nigeria’s continued commitment to the WAMZ project, Edun said that “though the challenges of a monetary union appear quite daunting, the previous leaderships realized the adverse consequences of inaction and thus steered the course, not giving up, which demonstrates our resilience and determination.”