The statutory meetings of the West African Monetary Agency (WAMA) and the second West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) open on August 16, 2019 in Conakry and end on August 23 August. These meetings, which will be chaired by the Guinean Minister of Economy and Finance, Mamadi Camara, will mainly examine the state of implementation and the results of the ECOWAS Monetary Cooperation Program (PCM); the stability of financial sectors; area payment systems and exchange rates.

The Conakry meeting takes place after the decisions of the Ministerial Committee of the Abidjan Task Force (operational force, editor's note) aimed at the creation of the single currency of the Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in 2020 .

At the ECOWAS summit held in Abuja, Nigeria last July, the Heads of State decided that the single currency of the region would be the "Eco" and "reaffirmed the graduated approach for the adoption of the currency starting with the countries that meet the convergence criteria". Among these criteria, there is the creation of foreign exchange reserves covering at least three months of imports, a budget deficit of less than 3% of GDP, inflation of less than 10%.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, since June 2017, Guinea has met 6 out of 6 criteria, including 4 out of 4 first-tier criteria. This suggests that Guinea does not wish to drag its feet in the creation of the single currency of ECOWAS, even if it remains fragile in relation to the inflation criterion. Overall, at the ECOWAS level, the performance of member countries in terms of convergence has improved, as well as in terms of harmonization of payment systems. But, according to the Department of Finance, in December 2018, only 6 out of 14 countries met all six criteria.

As a reminder, WAMA is an autonomous agency of ECOWAS created in 1996 following the transformation of the Chamber of Compensa. Its role is mainly to monitor and coordinate the ECOWAS Monetary Cooperation Program (PCM), the ultimate objective of which is the creation of a single ECOWAS currency. As for the WAMZ, it was established in 2000 in Accra (Ghana) to promote the convergence of the economies of West African countries, outside the Franc zone. It currently includes Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.