STORY: Cooperation among ECOWAS members vital to launching common currency: official
DATELINE: Sept. 12, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:13
LOCATION: Accra
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the conference
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): OLORUNSOLA OLOWOFESO, Director general of the WAMI   
3. various of the conference
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): OLORUNSOLA OLOWOFESO, Director general of the WAMI
5. various of the conference

STORYLINE:

A senior official from the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) on Monday stressed a strong collaboration among member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to achieve the target of launching the proposed common currency Eco for the subregion amid the global economic challenges.
   
Olorunsola Olowofeso, director general of the WAMI, made this call during the official opening of the 53rd Meeting of the Technical Committee of the Member States of the West African Monetary Zone in Accra, the capital of Ghana.
   
In an interview with Xinhua, Olowofeso said the governments and the central banks of ECOWAS member states have been working hard to hold the economies together and sustain the drive toward achieving the common currency on schedule.
   
To sustain this drive, the official emphasized that there is a need for an all-hands-on-deck approach.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): OLORUNSOLA OLOWOFESO, Director general of the WAMI   
"We need to talk to the stakeholders, we need to work together, we need to synchronize and say, let us see how we can drive this process. One institution can not drive it alone. All the stakeholders and all hands must be on deck for us to achieve this. So we need to strengthen our relationships and one of the challenges is, to bring all the stakeholders together, let them know your challenges, and see how those problems can be solved."
   
He conceded that the ongoing global challenges constituted a major challenge to achieving the primary and secondary convergence criteria for introducing the common currency.
   
SOUNDBITE 2 (English): OLORUNSOLA OLOWOFESO, Director general of the WAMI
"Like the fiscal, and financial integration aspect of it, in terms of payment systems, we have gone far. The domestic debt, we have gone far, the capital market, we have gone far, and then you listen to my speech, the unique bank identification."
   
He said the WAMI has received support from the African Development Bank to help the remaining countries to bring these programs on stream.

The leaders of ECOWAS adopted a new road map in 2021 toward the launch of the Eco by 2027, requiring all member states to meet all the primary convergence criteria requirements sustainably by the end of 2026.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Accra.
(XHTV)