On the 20th April 2000, the Heads of State of Six West African countries came together and made a decision to establish a second monetary zone, known as the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ). The countries involved in this unique economic idea were The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and the main objective of this monetary proposal was to create a new single and stable currency. If the new currency came into circulation it would create economic relief for local businesses which relied on local currencies to buy imported goods from abroad. If this monetary zone should come into existence, as was planned, by the year 2009, it will be named the ECO and, if the proposed plans and framework are met, these countries will be unified, both economically and politically, at an international level by one powerful currency. It will also widen and strengthen the trade barrier between these countries more than ever before and, for smaller nations like our very own Gambia, the establishment of such a currency will help to bring our country from its decades of ailing economic plight to perhaps one of the smallest counties in Africa with a good economic growth.
However, since the announcement of the proposed plans, the WAMZ has continued to push forward the date chosen to establish the actual currency itself. Various economic fora have been established in an effort to make a final decision as to how and when the currency will be introduced, but it seems that the final action is not going to be very soon and no reason has been given for this. However, as time marches on while we wait with bated breath, elsewhere around the world such collective economic practices have earned countries full economic freedom and efforts are still being made in those countries to create more prosaic plans for a better economy. At the time of writing, no reason has been given as to why it has taken so long for the ECO currency to go into circulation.
After careful research, some of the reasons for the delay can be explained. The involvement of bureaucrats and radical economists is one of the reasons why the final official establishment of the long awaited currency cannot be met. Another reason is the involvement of foreign investors who clearly know that, if the proposed plans of an economic unification empowered by a single currency comes into existence, it will mean a loss of income for them. Another tangible reason is that several member countries of WAMZ suffer from weak currencies and low budget deficits, which force their central Banks to print more and more notes because of the real decreasing value of their currencies. Until these necessary procedures are completed it will take a little longer for West Africa to rejoice in the benefits that the ECO is expected to bring. The only solution to arrive at this long awaited time is a concerted move which should be made not later than the beginning of the first decade of the twenty first century.
The West African Monetary Institution based in Accra, Ghana, estimated that it would launch the ECO by the year 2009. The WAMZ itself, which is intended to be the forerunner of a common central bank, will help to achieve one eventual goal, which is having the CFA and the ECO as single stable currencies for West and Central Africa. With such a currency platform, better economic growth could be established. If the ECO goes into circulation by the year 2009 it will be the achievement of the first decade of twenty first century West Africa becoming Europe-like in its economic planning.
For years West Africa, and Africa generally, has been facing severe economic plights especially our very own Gambia where we have watched the price of goods rise to a cut throat level. Conversely the private sector continue with its ambiguous tricks on the grounds that they are establishing a better economic growth whilst, on the contrary, they are just looking after their own economic interests. For decades, the private sector and foreign investors have created complications for all the various efforts made by local businesses and the central governments of Sub-Saharan Africa whose economies, based entirely on agriculture and the re-exportation of goods from the Americas, Europe, Australia and Asia to the remaining parts of the African continent, have always faced ambiguous economic proposals.
However, this proposed monetary plan, should it ever come into existence, will end that ambiguity and the insufficient self generated economic plans established by the private sector and foreign investors, and it will also create a better economic solution for the entire continent. The economic unification of Africa itself is the only economic and political power that can turn Africa into a giant super economic power and it is nowhere on the horizon, but I have no doubt that, if it should ever come into existence, it will end the dormant economic plight Africa has been facing for decades. However, since this is still beyond our reach, the WAMZ, if established, could be the trademark of a new economic revolution which perhaps could bring in other African countries to form a platform for a general currency. If Africa is economically unified by a single currency like the United States and Europe, it will end the continent’s years of economic failure. The AFRO, which many suggest should be the name of any established currency in an economic unified Africa, will end those years of economic separation.
Unification of an economic Africa under a single established currency could make a system identical to the European one of unified currency, the EURO, and it would be both beneficial and economical for Africa. The unique economic unification of Europe into one single currency, the EURO, has now a turnover bulling the US dollar which had, in turn, been bulling every currency in Europe. Most of all, it has completely downtrodden all national African currencies. If the ECO currency is ever established, it will limit the bulling that the US Dollar and the Euro has continued to do over African currencies over all these past years.
Finally, the simple solution to all these economic failures and the heavy debts that most African countries have been unable to pay since independence is DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM. It is the only solution to bring the entire continent together democratically and economically for better governance and rapid development. With a socialist model of government the continent would be able to establish corridors to economic development and, above all, create stable governments. With the establishment of the ECO, and Nigeria on the pitch with its economic might, rapid economic growth could be easily achieved and new trade barriers could come into existence. Nigeria’s joining of the new proposed single currency, The Eco, will help its economy by its large petroleum deposits which, for many years, have been entirely controlled by foreign investors. These foreign firms that buy the crude oil of Nigeria and resell it to its African counterparts and keep the profits will barely be able to do that if the single currency proposal comes into existence, and this will also help smaller countries like The Gambia to overcome their economic plights .However, all these effects cannot take place until the circulation of the actual ECO begins, because we want to win but not to be winners and loser at the same time. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, a former President of the United States, once said “Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser-in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough’’. Until then, West African Monetary Institution, time is running out and we can’t wait to see the ECO come into force!