Despite sustained efforts by West African governments to introduce a single currency for cross-border transactions in the sub-region, indications have shown that the quest for a single currency regime by them is becoming a herculean task in terms of performance assessment.
The West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) Director- General, Dr. Olorunsola Olowofeso, on Friday expressed pessimism that the single currency dream would take much longer time to achieve as the convergence indicators had declined significantly.
Giving an update on the WAMZ performance assessment scorecard, the Director-General: “The assessment of Member States’ performance reveals that as at the end of June 2023, all WAMZ member-states failed to meet all the four primary convergence criteria.
“The Zone’s performance score declined to 29.2 percent, compared to 41.7 percent during the same period in 2022.
“The medium-term projections on macroeconomic convergence, as indicated by the multi-year national macroeconomic convergence and stability programmes of the Member States, suggest that none of the WAMZ Member States will meet all the four primary convergence criteria on a sustainable basis for the remaining three consecutive years (2024-2026) of the convergence phase of the ECOWAS Single Currency Roadmap (2021-2027)”, Olowofeso added.
Speaking at the forum, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, restated the Nigerian government’s commitment to achieving the WAMZ objectives.
