Various parts of the world continue to move toward unified currencies. The euro is best know of the unified currencies. Although it has not worked out very well, other regions continue to follow suit. The Gulf Arab States within the GCC have set a unified currency as one of their goals as part of the larger goal of military, commercial and financial unity.
The Economic Community of West African
States known as ECOWAS has set a target of 2015 to form a common currency. ECOWAS includes Ghana and Nigeria, both of whom have active biometric ID initiatives. Biometrics will certainly be a part of this financial integration. Nigeria, as we have previously written about, is actively pursuing a cashless system. ECOWAS will likely follow suit with one of its largest and fastest growing members.
2015 set as target date for ECOWAS single currency
This was announced by the Director of
Financial Integration at the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI)
at a meeting of West African journalists meeting in Accra, Ghana last
week. This latest announcement comes after years of delay for the
realization of the ECOWAS single currency.
The currency was expected to have come
into being since 2003, but had faced setbacks. The single currency
will boost trade within member states and ease payments.
Eunice Ngozi Egbuna (Dr.) told West
African Journalists in Accra, that the ECO (the name of the single
currency) has been designed in 2012 and that it only requires the
political will of member states to have put into circulation as
against the set 2015.
Dr. Egbuna said lot of progress has
been made on the quantitative and qualitative bench marks of the ECO,
adding that payment systems have also been put in place with the ECO
Central Bank slated to be located in Ghana, with each member states
contributing to the Bank according to their GDP. Ghana and Nigeria
being the highest contributors are expected to contribute more to the
bank’s setting up.
“The single currency is very much
alive”, Dr. Egbuna assured, disclosing that the African Development
Bank (ADB) has approved $30 Million for Sierra Leone, Guinea and
Liberia to put in place their payment systems for the single
currency. The Gambia, she went on to disclose, has gone live with the
payment system and Liberia will be launching theirs next week.
