Members of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) on Thursday condemned in strong terms the decision by the French-speaking West African states to unilaterally rename the CFA Franc as “Eco” by 2020.
Their concern was raised at the extra-ordinary meeting of the Ministers of Finance and Economy and Governors of the Central Banks of member states of the WAMZ Convergence Council held in Abuja.
The meeting held under the chairmanship of Mamadi Camara, minister for economy and finance of the Republic of Guinea and hosted by Nigeria’s minister of finance, budget and national planning, Zainab Ahmed.
Among other things, the Council recommended an Extraordinary Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the WAMZ Member States be convened soon to discuss this matter and other related issues.
According to a communiqué issued at the end of the discussions and read by Ahmed, “the meeting noted with concern, the declaration by His Excellency, Alasane
Outtarra, Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) on December 21, 2019 to unilaterally rename the CFA Franc as “Eco” by 2020.
“WAMZ Convergence Council wishes to emphasize that this action is not in line with the decisions of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS for the adoption of the “Eco” as the name of an independent ECOWAS Single Currency.
WAMZ Convergence Council re-iterated the importance for all ECOWAS member countries to adhere to the decisions of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government towards the implementation of the revised roadmap of the ECOWAS Single Currency Programme.
Present at the Meeting were the Ministers of Finance and tne
Economy and Governors of Central Banks of the member States of the West African monetary Zone including: Mambury Njie, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Republic of The Gambia; Ken Ofori Atta, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Ghana; Mamadi CAMARA, Minister of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Guinea; Samuel D. Tweah Jr, Minister of Finance and Development Planning of the Republic of Liberia.
Onyinye Nwachukwu, Abuja
