Ghana Welcomes Adoption Of ECOWAS Common Currency
…Says Eco Testifies To Monetary Union, Subregional Integration Agenda
By Clifford Agugoesi
The government of the Republic of Ghana has reviewed the announcement Saturday, December 21, 2019, by the President of the West African Economic and Monetary Union(UEMOA), as well as the President of Cote d’Ivoire, Alassane Quattara on the decision of eight West African member states of UEMOA to discontinue CFA Franc and adopt Eco effective 2020.
UEMOA communication, seen by Cyber Era Online(www.cyberera.com.ng), and authored by UEMOA Director of Communications, Communications Directorate, Jubilee House, Accra, Eugene Arhin, says the decision was welcome by Ghana that saw the move as a testimony to the importance attached not only to the establishment of the monetary union but also to the larger agenda of West African integration.
Stated Arhin: “We in Ghana, are determined to do whatever we can to enable us join the Member States of UEMOA, soon, in the use of the Eco, as we believe, it will help remove trade and monetary barriers, reduce transaction costs, boost economic activity, and raise the living standards of our people.
“Ghana urges the other Member States of ECOWAS to work rapidly towards implementing the decisions of the Authorities of ECOWAS, including adopting a flexible exchange rate regime, instituting a federal system for the ECOWAS Central Bank, and other related agreed convergence criteria, to ensure that we achieve the single currency objectives of ECOWAS, as soon as possible, for all member states.”
Ghana says Eco presented a historic opportunity to create a new reality for the peoples of ECOWAS, namely a reality of general prosperity and progress, urging “so, let us seize it.”
