NIGER PRESIDENT NAMED NEW ECOWAS LEADER
President Issoufou plans to use ECO as a single currency after elected as ECOWAS leader
ECOWAS has elected Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou as its new leader. President Issoufou who will be in charge for a one year period has adopted ECO. This ECO will be the name for a single currency as distribution will begin in January 2020.
President Issoufou takes over from President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria during the 55th Ordinary Session of the Ecowas leaders on Saturday in Abuja. The West African bloc represents an estimated population of about 385 million people.
Meanwhile, the bloc have for decades held discussions and meetings on issuing a common currency that will boost regional trade and investment, without however, making significant progress.
President Mahamadou Issoufou said “We are of the view that countries that are ready will launch the single currency. He said countries that are not ready will join the programme as they comply with all six convergence criteria.”
During the meeting, 13 of the 15 member states were in attendance. This members include; Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Togo. While, Cape Verde and Senegal were represented by their ministers.
Currently, eight ECOWAS countries such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo all use the CFA Franc, while the other seven Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone have their own currencies.