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Ivory Coast president says new West African currency launch may take five years

Published 26/09/2020, 18:36
Updated 26/09/2020, 18:42

BOUAFLE, Ivory Coast Sept 26 (Reuters) - A planned new West
African currency to replace the France-backed CFA franc this
year has been derailed by the coronavirus pandemic and its
launch could now be up to five years away, Ivory Coast's
President Alassane Ouattara said on Saturday.
Last December, West Africa's eight-nation monetary union
announced it would sever some financial links with Paris and
switch to the new currency, called the eco, by the end of 2020
while keeping it pegged to the euro. But these ambitions have been thwarted as countries instead
grapple with the economic fallout from the global pandemic. The
International Monetary Fund expects Sub-Saharan Africa's economy
to contract 3.2% this year - its worst performance on record.
"We know the eco cannot be put in place this year because of
COVID-19," Ouattara told journalists during a visit to the city
of Bouafle.
He said talks on the eco were held in Niger on Sept 7.,
where countries vowed to work on achieving the agreed criteria
for the currency's launch, including national budget deficits at
or below 3% of gross domestic product.
"We think it will be difficult to get to a 3% deficit for
two or three years, so personally I don't see the eco's arrival
for three to five years," he said.
He was speaking in a personal capacity and not on behalf of
the currency union, which has not yet commented on a new
timeframe for the currency's launch.
Ivory Coast is the largest economy in the bloc, which
includes Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali,
Niger, Senegal and Togo - all former French colonies except
Guinea-Bissau.
Ghana has said it would also want to adopt the eco, but has
urged members of the currency union to ditch the planned euro
peg.

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