- The convergence criteria have not been met by majority of the countries
- The bloc had already advanced a 2020 deadline for implementation of the move.
ECO, the proposed common currency for countries in the Economic Community of West African States has run into further delay. The current ECOWAS chairperson is Nigerien president Mahamadou Issoufou. A tweet from the Nigerian presidency read that “the convergence criteria have not been met by the majority of the countries.’’ Therefore, the take-off of the single currency is bound to be further delayed. The bloc had already advanced a 2020 deadline for implementation of the move.
Experts have pointed out that almost none from the 15 members of ECOWAS has managed to meet the criteria. These included a deficit of less than 3 percent of the gross domestic product; inflation of 10 percent or under; and debts worth less than 70 percent of GDP.
Meanwhile, there was confusion and protests from Nigeria and the Anglophone bloc in ECOWAS at the seeming usurpation of the name ECO by the Francophone CFA bloc. Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara announced in December last year that a common currency the eight-member CFA bloc – West Africa Economic and Monetary Union, WAMU – was planning to adopt was to also be called “ECO.”
