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· Six West African countries, led by Nigeria, the most industrialized country in Africa, have criticized the change over to the new currency.
· The announcement at Abuja has put a question mark not only on Eco, but the future of the 15-nation economic union.
Before the ink dried of the agreement signed among eight West African countries to switch over to Eco, the new currency to replace CFA Franc, fissures seem to be erupted in adopting the new currency, which is touted as a self-expression of distancing from the colonial past of the region. Six West African countries, led by Nigeria, the most industrialized country in Africa, have criticized the change over to the new currency. They feel that Eco is not in line with what was agreed for the adoption of a single regional currency for the 15-nation Western Africa region.
Members of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) Convergence Council have expressed concern about the December 21 announcement of the eight CFA Franc bloc and termed it as a unilateral decision by those countries and not the considered decision of the entire group. After the talks among those who dissent the Eco held at Nigerian capital Abuja, the dissenting members called for an extraordinary summit of WAMZ to discuss this matter and other related issues at the earliest.
Attended by finance ministers and central bank governors of The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, which are English-speaking, and of Guinea, which is French-speaking, the view of the WAMZ Convergence Council meeting was unanimous. Earlier, there were reports that countries like Nigeria and Gambia were seriously considering adoption of Eco as the currency. It is still not known what prompted these countries to distance from the decision taken on December 21, 2019 by eight countries.
Countries which use CFA Franc are Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, which are former French colonies, as well as Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony. Under the agreement signed with France, these countries were to deposit 50% of their surplus in the French central bank, which will be later allocated on the basis of a predetermined formula. CFA Franc was for long a sore point among West African countries, which often was referred a relic of the colonial past. The CFA Franc was introduced in 1945 by then French President Charles De Gaulle. Importantly, the 15-nation regional alliance last year set the goal of creating a single currency. It is also named Eco as the currency. The announcement at Abuja has put a question mark not only on Eco, but the future of the 15-nation economic union.
