Ghana has renewed calls for urgent and time-bound steps to implement the long-delayed ECO single currency project, as frustrations mount over stalled progress on regional monetary integration. Speaking at the 2025 West Africa Economic Summit held in Abuja, Nigeria, Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Finance, Thomas Ampem Nyarko, emphasized that the region must move beyond political commitments and “deliver concrete results.” The ECO, first proposed in 2003 by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), aims to create a common currency for the 15-member bloc to enhance trade, lower transaction costs, stabilize inflation, and deepen regional integration. However, the project has suffered repeated delays due to macroeconomic divergences, political instability, and lack of institutional readiness.
Ghana’s intervention comes amid rising discontent among ECOWAS states that meet the convergence criteria — such as single-digit inflation, a budget deficit below 3% of GDP, and stable exchange rates — but have seen little progress in operationalizing the currency. Countries like Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Nigeria have expressed varying levels of commitment, but a lack of consensus on leadership, monetary policy governance, and institutional harmonization has held the project back.
The West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) and the West African Monetary Agency (WAMA) have conducted readiness assessments in recent years, but the COVID-19 pandemic, currency depreciation, and inflation shocks in 2022–2024 forced a further postponement of the ECO’s launch.
ECOWAS leaders are expected to issue a joint communiqué following the summit, outlining whether a new implementation date for the ECO will be set. Some analysts speculate that 2027 could be proposed, though much depends on political will, the reform of national central banks, and how Nigeria, the region’s largest economy, aligns with the process. With the recent departure of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso from ECOWAS, some observers fear the political fragmentation could further complicate ECO implementation. However, Ghana’s renewed leadership on the issue may help revive momentum.
