A monetary sea snake that has been talked about for 30 years, the Eco was to be launched in 2020. But three months before the end of the year, the hypothetical future West African single currency is at a standstill.

The announcement in 2019 by the Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) of the implementation of the new currency the following year seemed unrealistic: it was necessary in a few months to create a central bank, decide on the exchange rate regime, manufacture coins and banknotes, adapt computer systems and administrations... what Europe took fifteen years to do to launch its Euro.

The coronavirus crisis has overcome this calendar, adding to the confusion and internal crisis created by the announced change from the CFA franc to Eco by the eight countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), members of  ECOWAS , much to the chagrin of Nigeria and the English-speaking countries of the area. A change still not effective, either, while it was announced for July.

As a result, at the last summit of  ECOWAS in Niamey in early September, Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou urged his counterparts "to develop a new roadmap while maintaining a gradual approach for the launch of the common currency".

A first-class funeral? "No, it's not a funeral, it's a postponement," said Yao Prao, an economics professor at the University of Bouaké (Côte d'Ivoire), according to which Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara has mentioned a delay of five more years.

"It's a question of political will. Five years are enough to get there," he estimates, despite the "discrepancies" between the countries, expressed in particular by Nigeria, heavyweight of the 15 countries of  ECOWAS, with 180 million inhabitants out of 300, and 60% of the GDP of the zone.

Nigeria demands, in order to engage in a genuine monetary union, that the countries of the FCFA zone completely sever their ties with the France, thus go beyond the "reform" announced.

The countries of the franc zone fear falling into the monetary instability experienced by their neighbors in the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), which each have their own currency.

"It is a good thing for West African countries to have a single currency, but we must have a debate on the convergence criteria (inflation, debt, public deficit): let us not seek to mimic Europe; the establishment of a single currency must not lead to a policy of austerity to the detriment of growth. and employment," says Yao Prao.

The economic crisis generated by the coronavirus epidemic, with a fall in growth in West Africa, has in any case undermined compliance with these convergence criteria.

For the economist and former Ivorian minister Daniel Anikpo, the Eco "will not be done", because "there is no political will".

"When I was a minister in 2000, there was already talk of a five-year period," says this supporter of a common West African sovereign currency. "We cannot wait for a thousand years for the incompatibilities of each other to be settled!"