Eco: ECOWAS Postpones Launch of Regional Currency to 2027

ECOWAS's ambitious plan for 15 West African countries to adopt a common currency has been pushed back to 2027.

The eco, meant to have been launched in 2020, was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and its aftershocks, the Economic Community of West African States said in a statement on Saturday, following an ordinary session held in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.

The new road map was agreed by heads of state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, President of the ECOWAS Commission, told a news conference after a summit of the leaders in Ghana on Saturday. 

"Due to the shock of the pandemic, the heads of state had decided to suspend the implementation of the convergence pact in 2020-2021" Brou said.

"We have a new road map and a new convergence pact that will cover the period between 2022-2026, and 2027 being the launch of the Eco," he said, referring to the name of the new currency.

The West African bloc has been pursuing a common currency project for more than two decades to help remove trade barriers, ease the cost of doing business, and boost economic growth in a region of more than 380 million people.

Within the bloc, eight countries that already share the CFA franc have started reforms of their own ahead of the wider currency project.