Uche Usim, Abuja
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, on Monday said that Nigeria was in receipt of the news regarding the change of name of the UEMOA Currency, the CFA (Communaute Financiere d’Afrique) to Eco, supposedly as the single currency of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Mrs Ahmed, quoted byher Special Adviser, Media and Communication, Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, said Nigeria was “studying the situation and would respond in due course”.
Presidents of the 15-nation ECOWAS agreed at a summit in Abuja in June to adopt Eco as the name of the planned shared currency for the bloc and was to take off in 2020. But Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, had on December 6 in Abuja expressed skepticism over the possibility of the single currency regime taking off next year as planned by ECOWAS member nations.
According to her, only the Republic of Togo, out of other ECOWAS nations, has met the set criteria for achieving the target.
Ahmed, who made this known at the ECOWAS ministerial committee of Ministers of Finance on the ECOWAS single currency regime in Abuja, said with only one country meeting the criteria means it would be a very tall order to beat the 2020 take-off deadline for the single currency regime.
According to the Minister, there is need for member states to pursue appropriate policies and structural reforms that would enable them meet the convergence criteria within the shortest possible time.
She, however, maintained the existing vulnerabilities in the global economy have not robbed the ECOWAS sub-region of the growth it has recorded in recent times. She listed Nigeria as one of the African nations recording appreciable economic growth, pointing out that the Federal Government was aggressively implementing various reforms to enable the country achieve its targets for the monetary union.
On border closure, Ahmed insisted that Nigeria shut her land borders against neighbouring countries because of their flagrant abuse of trade treaties.
She said while Nigeria attached great importance to trade liberalisation, countries should be able to respect global trade commitments.
In his welcome address, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kasi, said that member countries have made significant progress in several areas to achieve the monetary convergence.
However, he said despite the progress made, there is still much work to be done.
He described the meeting of the ministers of finance and governors of Central banks as critical, considering the fact that the region have just few months to the proposed 2020 commencement date.
He said expectations were very high regarding the introduction of the single currency, adding that the meeting would review the macroeconomic convergence report, state of preparedness of the monetary union, the symbol of the single currency, the proposed name of the Central Bank of ECOWAS and the terms of reference for the bank.