The Central Bank Governors in the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, have accepted a proposal to shift the full implementation of the sub-regional monetary integration project till 2020.
The proposal was made by the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government.
The confirmation of the decision is expected to be made public at the end of the West African Monetary Zone, WAMZ, meeting holding in Abuja.
The deadline for the full implementation of the common currency project was January 1, 2015.
Hints that a postponement was in the offing were reflected in the position of Nigeria’s CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, in his speech at the 31st Meeting of the Committee of Governors of the WAMZ in Abuja on Wednesday.
Mr. Emefiele, who reviewed the progress made so far by the 15-member group over the past few years on the sub-regional monetary union agenda, said meeting the deadline appeared impossible.
During the meeting, Mr. Emefiele, was elected the new Chairman of Committee of Governors of the WAMZ by a unanimous acclamation. He has tenure of six months.
Mr. Emefiele’s election followed the motion by the Governor of the Central Bank of Ghana and Chairman of the Election Committee, and seconded by the Governor of the Central Bank of Guinea.
The CBN governor, therefore, urged his colleagues to objectively examine the numerous challenges facing the various countries and critically assess the state of preparedness of member states to ensure monetary integration at short notice,
“The road to meeting the January 1, 2015 implementation target date would appear bumpy, especially when the member countries are still grappling with sundry macroeconomic convergence challenges and lacking the capacity to meet the criteria for the proposed union on a sustainable basis,” he stated.
He said member countries should also realistically appraise the directive of their leaders with a view to ensuring a sustainable monetary union in the zone.
The CBN governor urged the Committee members to think outside the box and come up with realistic options for achieving the sub-regional agenda.
Over the years, he said the appraisals by the committee have continued to show that the level of macroeconomic convergence in the zone remained inadequate relative to the set targets.
Since 2009, Mr. Emefiele said no two countries satisfied all the four primary convergence criteria consistently for two years.
