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Momodou
Denmark
11644 Posts |
 Posted - 05 Dec 2006 : 00:35:41
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ECO Will Be A Convertible Currency - Says WAMI
By Bubacar K. Sowe
Emmanuel Ating Onwioduokit, Chief economist and head of the Multilateral Surveillance Division at the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) has said that the ECO will be a convertible currency which will be accepted any where in the world.
In an exclusive interview with Foroyaa on Thursday, at the Paradise Suite Hotel, he gave assurance that the introduction of the single currency by December 2009 is certain. Mr. Onwioduokit was hasty to say that there are still challenges in the process. Among them, he said, is the financial commitment of member states, as most states are in arrears to the stabilization and cooperation fund.
He called on member states, to expedite the domestication of the protocols and agreements signed into their national laws. “Removing of the fiscal barriers that separate our people and the free movement of goods and services will enhance our integration,” he pointed out.
On meeting the targets of the convergence criteria, he said that The Gambia, Nigeria and Sierre Leone are on track. “The real challenge is with Guinea and Ghana. By the end of June our assessment showed that Ghana were at the margin 10.5%, and Guinea at 35%,” Mr. Onwioduokit revealed. He added that current projections for Guinea indicate that even by the end of the year their achievement will be 29%, which is still a way off the single digit criteria that they envisage.
However, he praised Ghana’s performance of bringing down its inflation rate from 43% to 10% in the last two years, and hoped that by the end of this year Ghana’s inflation rate would be a single digit. Inorder to sustain the convergence criteria that have been met, Onwioduokit said it all has to do with appropriate adjustment and policy choices and governments to desist from borrowing from Central Banks or carrying out extra budgetary activities.
He also stated that the creation of a common stock market in the sub-region is crucial. He said government could then borrow there at a market rate and finance its deficit, which is not harmful to the domestic economy as when compared to borrowing from Central Banks.
He added that entrepreneurs in the zone will have vast opportunities when the agreements are implemented since a company registered in Nigeria does not need to incorporate in other member countries and vice versa. “They will have access to over 200 million people in the region,” he said.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No.106/2006, 29-30 November, 2006
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