The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) hopes to launch a single currency, the eco, in 2027. This was stated by the Minister of Finance of Nigeria, who chairs the association, Waile Edan, at a meeting of the ECOWAS Convergence Council in Abuja.
Edan said that the introduction of the currency was complicated by security concerns, inflation and global economic turmoil, but Nigeria remains committed to regional economic cooperation, monetary and fiscal discipline.
Plans to introduce a single ECOWAS currency emerged as early as 2003, but the launch was postponed in 2005, 2010 and 2014, the publication notes. The countries reached a final decision to introduce the currency in 2020 in July 2019, but the pandemic prevented them. The currency was planned to be launched jointly with the West African Monetary Agency, the West African Monetary Institute and the West African Central Bank. In 2021, at the 59th regular session of ECOWAS in Accra, a new roadmap for the launch of the currency by 2027 was agreed.