The ECOWAS Commissioner in charge of Micro Economic Policy, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, has indicated that the commission is determined to meet all deadlines set for this year towards actualisation of the ECOWAS single currency programme by 2020.

He explained that the various heads of state under ECOWAS have given the commission a roadmap, which includes the drafting of a legal document to see to the establishment of a central bank, as well as the setting up of an accounts office that would finance the activities of the single currency programme when it comes into fruition.

According to him, the roadmaps are of great importance towards the actualisation of the programmes, and the commission is determined to meet these targets, among others, before the second quarter of 2018.

“The effective implementation of the regional monetary integration programme remains high on the agenda of the ECOWAS authority. I would not be misled this time around having been part of the team that was delegated in 2005 towards a single currency for the ECOWAS sub-region,” he stressed.

Dr Apraku was speaking to journalists Monday on the sidelines during the opening of a technical meeting of the working group for the validation of the study of the ECOWAS single currency programme.

The aim of the meeting was to stimulate processes towards achieving monetary integration for the sub-region after over three decades of efforts.

The two-day meeting in Accra is a working session to follow up on the recommendations of the ministerial committee for the finalisation of the United Nations Economic Commission (UNECA) study.

It was also to validate the study on the ECOWAS single currency towards actualising the attainment of a single currency for the sub-region by 2020.

The meeting, he explained, was against the backdrop of a directive by principals at the fifth presidential taskforce on the single currency programme meeting held in February 2018 in Accra.

At that meeting, the taskforce directed the ministerial committee to reconsider the UNECA study report on the ECOWAS single currency programme. 

During the last meeting, a revised roadmap for the ECOWAS single currency was adopted by the presidential taskforce, in which the taskforce pledged to fully finance the effective implementation of the roadmap to the establishment of the ECOWAS monetary unit in 2020.

The working group, he explained, validated the data and discussed the methodology and procedure used in the study.

He acknowledged the important contributions of regional institutions such as West Africa Monetary Institute (WAMI) and West Africa Monetary Agency (WAMA) towards the effective implementation of activities involved in the ECOWAS monetary co-operation programme.

Dr Apraku urged all the representatives to put in maximum effort to critically examine the various country reports to enable the commission to carry out its mandate successfully.

In his welcome address, Enoch Obeng-Darko, Head International Economic Policy Unit, was of the hope that the discussions at the technical meeting would be guided by the recommendations of the ministerial committee that member states assist in achieving the 2020 deadline.

He thanked members of the technical committee for their professionalism in executing the assigned task by their principals.