Almost 200 guests are in Lomé as of this Wednesday to discuss the new currency, the eco, which was decided on December 21, 2019 in Abidjan by the French and Ivorian presidents, Emmanuel Macron and Alassane Ouattara.
as reported from Lomé, Peter Sassou Dogbé
It is expected that this currency will eventually replace the CFA franc in the eight countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, to later become the single currency of the 15 countries of the African Community economic community. How should the transition from CFA to eco be made? An issue that has sparked a debate among academics but also politicians and civil society with a view to proposing a roadmap for heads of state and government to assist them in their decision-making.
It is an initiative of the Faculty of Economics and Management at the University of Lomé to delimit the contours of the new currency and see to what extent it creates or not a separation with CFA francs, to what extent it covers the 15 ECOWAS states and how the transition from CFA franc to eco will be made.
An entire program that will be made in two formats: a first brings together economists with an econometric model and a second in the form of a panel of civil societies, politicians and opinion leaders.
► Read also: West Africa is waiting for its common currency
Among the two hundred guests we find anti-CFA, such as the initiator of the conference, Kako Nubukpo, who for 20 years has considered that the CFA franc is not a good currency because he says it is too strong a currency, pegged to the euro, works it as a tax on exports, a subsidy on imports that leads to a structurally negative trade balance.
There is a research goal to feed the gray literature on the monetary fact in West Africa. In addition, our ambition with this forum is to propose a roadmap.
Kako Nubukpo, Economist, Togo’s Commissioner for the West African Economic and Monetary Union (Uemoa) and Initiator of the General of these States
Next to him we find support from the CFA, including Lionel Zinsou from Benin, Michel Khalif from Togo.
Ceillou Dalein Diallo from Guinea-Conakry, Ousmane Sanko from Senegal and Succès Masra from Chad are expected to participate in the debates via video conference, their countries have refused them to leave the territory.
The general state of the environment expires this Friday 28 but the meeting must be renewed. From now on, “Lomé Monetary Conversations” will be held every two years to carry out an evaluation, in particular of the development of eco.
► To read also: ECOWAS’s eco, currency, postponed to 2025?
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