Ghana Hosts 5th Meeting of Presidential Task Force On Ecowas Single Currency Programme

The Fifth Meeting of the Presidential Task Force on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Single Currency Programme has talken place in Accra.

The meeting brought together Heads of States, Governors of Central Banks and the Finance and Foreign Ministers from the ECOWAS sub-region to deliberate on the implementation of the ECOWAS Single Currency programme by the year 2020.

Present at the meeting were His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on the ECOWAS Single Currency, His Excellency Issoufou Mahamadou, President of the Republic of Niger and Co-Chairman of the Task Force, His Excellency Alassane Ouattara, President of the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire and the Governor of the Central Bank of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mr.Godwin Emefiele, representing His Excellency, Mahamadu Buhari, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Also present were His Excellency Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, President of the Republic of Togo and incumbent Chairman of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS and the Governor of the Central Bank of Guinea, Mr. Lounceny Nabe, representing the President of the Republic of Guinea, His Excellency, Professor Alpha Conde.

The others who attended were the Ministers in charge of Finance of Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Niger, Presidents of the ECOWAS Commission and UEMOA Commission, Governors of the Central Banks of ECOWAS Member States, special representatives of the Heads of State of Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Niger and Nigeria on the Ministerial Committee, the Director-General of the West African Monetary Agency and the Director-General of the West African Monetary Institute while the Director of the Economic Commission for Africa sub-regional office for West Africa attended as an observer.

A communique issued at the end of the meeting said the Presidential Task Force reaffirmed their political will to meet the ECOWAS Single Currency Programme deadline by 2020 and the commitment to ratify and implement all relevant ECOWAS protocols and conventions.

The communique said the Presidential Task Force also reaffirmed the gradual approach where Member States which meet the convergence criteria could start the monetary union while the other countries join later.

The communique welcomed the progress made by the Member States and encouraged them to continue the efforts toward meeting the convergence criteria and strengthening the multilateral surveillance mechanism.

According to the communique, the Presidential Task Force adopted the revised roadmap for accelerating the creation of the ECOWAS single currency by 2020 and instructed all stakeholders to implement the revised roadmap.

The communique said the Presidential Task Force reaffirmed their commitment to funding the ECOWAS Single Currency Programme by Member States and their Central Banks and invited the Committee of Governors and Convergence Council to hold quarterly meetings on the progress of implementation of planned activities and to regularly report at their biannual sessions.

The communique said the Heads of State members of the Task Force expressed their concern over the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and called on the African Union to put in place a mechanism to move towards a peaceful solution.

The next meeting of the Presidential Task Force is scheduled for May 2018 in Niamey, Republic of Niger.

Source: ISD (G.D. Zaney)

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