West African leaders present at a summit in Ghana on Saturday agreed a new road map to launch a single currency in 2027. 

The proposed single currency for the Economic Community of West African States, the Eco, will be launched in 2027, replacing the CFA Franc, barring any other setbacks.

The planned introduction of the common currency for the 15-member countries of the group has been mired by disagreements between the Anglo-phone (English-speaking) members and their Francophone (French-speaking) counterparts.

As a result of the disagreements, the plan to roll out the new currency in 2020 was derailed.

In late December 2019, the Ivory Coast President, Alassane Ouattara unfolded the plan by the French-speaking countries in the region, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, ro replace the West African CFA franc used by their colonial masters, France, with a new currency called the ECO.

The announcement met stiff resistance by the Anglophone counterparts led by Nigeria, who said the arrangement was never in line the agreement by all ECOWAS members in June 2019 to adopt a single currency to ensure regional integration.

Breakthrough 

The approval of the roadmap by the ECOWAS leaders under the Chairmanship of Ghanaian President and Chair of the Authority, Nana Akufo-Addo, suggests the disagreements may have been resolved to ensure the single currency takes off in the region as planned.

The Summit commended the Ministerial Committee on the Single Currency Programme for its diligence in implementing the decisions taken at its 58th Ordinary Session in January.

Restructuring into seven Commissions

On institutional reforms towards the optimal structure and size of the new ECOWAS Commission and the other Institutions, the Authority adopted a 7-member Commission as its new size beginning March 2022. The Commission’s current structure has 15 Commissions, which members have always criticised as unweildy and costly to maintain.

The Authority reiterated its commitment to the objectives of improved performance and operational efficiency of ECOWAS Institutions, by further streamlining ECOWAS operating costs, to promote the implementation of integration programmes geared towards the economic and social development of the region.