The President of the Conference of Heads of State of the West African Economic and Monetary Union
(UEMOA) announced this Saturday, December 21, 2019 in Abidjan, on behalf of its peers, a major advance
achieved in the economic and monetary integration of the eight member countries of the Western Monetary Union
(WAMU), by laying the foundations for their membership in ECO, the single currency project of the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
This historic decision marks a significant step in the realization of a common project: to build
collectively the growth of ECOWAS countries and make this area the epicenter of prosperity that
will benefit current and future generations.
The creation of the single currency of ECOWAS is one of the fundamental objectives of this
Community, since its creation on May 28, 1975. From that date, this objective has been regularly
reaffirmed by the highest authorities of the Community during their sessions, the last of which was held
in June 2019 in Abuja (Nigeria). Its objective is twofold: to improve exchanges between the different countries
members, strengthen the stability and resilience of economies and drive strong, sustainable and
inclusive at the regional level.
In order to enable the economies of WAEMU to prepare for the ECO, the cooperation agreements
monetary policy linking the Member States of the zone to France have been thoroughly overhauled.
In concrete terms, three decisions were made:
* The change of the name of the CFA franc currency to ECO, when the UEMOA countries will integrate the
new ECOWAS ECO zone;
* Stopping the centralization of foreign exchange reserves at the French Treasury, closing the operations account
and the transfer to the BCEAO of the resources available in the account;
* The withdrawal of all French representatives from the decision-making and management bodies of WAMU (Conseil
Directors of the BCEAO, Banking Commission and Monetary Policy Committee).
Furthermore, with a view to making the ECO the foundation of the dynamism of the economic union, as well as
of the prosperity of the populations of the countries concerned, the highest authorities of UEMOA wished
preserve two key pillars of monetary stability in the zone:
* Maintaining the fixed exchange rate against the euro (which ensures the current parity).
* The guarantee of unlimited convertibility of the currency by France.
The decisions taken on December 21, 2019 in Abidjan thus represent a major turning point towards the implementation of
place of the ECO and in no way affect the daily use of the CFA Franc by the populations and businesses of
WAEMU.
BCEAO Governor