The resolve and commitment of the ECOWAS member nations to the establishment of the one currency, the ECO, has been questioned by economist Professor Godfred Bokpin.
He claims that the member nations of ECOWAS have not shown that they are prepared to implement the necessary fiscal and monetary plans for the introduction of the single currency.
“Prolonged discussions surrounding the ECO, questioning whether member countries are genuinely committed to the requisite fiscal policy discipline and prudent monetary policies are needed to achieve macroeconomic convergence,” the Professor of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) said.
Meanwhile, a recent report from a technical committee has revealed that ECOWAS member states have not met the essential requirements necessary for the implementation of the ECO currency.
These requirements encompass maintaining an annual inflation rate in single digits, reducing the fiscal deficit to no more than 4 percent, and ensuring that Central Bank deficit-financing remains below 10 percent of the previous year’s tax revenue.
In response to this situation, the technical committee has been assigned the responsibility of revisiting and reassessing the roadmap and convergence pact for ECOWAS member states to explore potential solutions.
This decision was made during the ongoing Monetary Zone Conference, currently underway in Accra, Ghana.