Adoption Of Regional Currency “Eco” Not Yet In Sight …BoG Governor

Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Yedu Addison, has indicated that the adoption of the Eco as the common currency for West African States is still an elusive mirage.

Addressing expectations that the currency will be adopted this year, the Central Bank Governor revealed today that latest meeting of Central Bank Governors in Abuja Nigeria, produced a reality check that most countries are far from achieving the convergence criteria set by ECOWAS’ Central Committee.

According to Dr. Addison, it will take a lot of hard work and effort on the part of member countries to achieve set targets on indicators such as inflation, depreciation and exchange rate stability in order for the adoption of the Eco to be ideal.

The BoG Governor also said there are many other issues that have not been thrashed out yet, including, the decision about where the ECOWAS Central Bank will be headquartered.

Towards the last quarter of last year, there had news reports that there had been a leap in steps towards the adoption of the Eco as sub-regional currency, as Francophone African countries had decided to abandon the CFA Francs and adopt the Eco.

There had also been talks about how that move was a major hurdle that should propel the adoption of the Eco this year. But as Dr. Addison reveals, the meeting in Abuja had rather concluded that it was wrong for the Francophone African countries to adopt the “Eco” name as a replacement for the CFA Francs, as the Eco is envisioned to be a sub-regional currency.