Accra, Oct. 29, GNA- The political will so far exhibited by leaders of the West African Sub-Region indicates that the single monetary zone concept of the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) will succeed, Dr Michael O. Ojo, Director General of the WAMI said on Wednesday in Accra. He said even though there had been drawbacks in the form of civil wars and political disturbances in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire, the extent of political commitment shown so far gave a very strong hope that the dream of a single currency would be realised within the time frame.
"Even in countries known to have relative peace, such as Nigeria and Ghana, some sporadic upheavals have distorted at one time or the other, the smooth running of affairs that usually lead to heavy borrowing from central banks.
"But we are confident that the entire programme will see the light of day."
Dr Ojo was speaking at the opening of a capacity building workshop for 40 officials from central banks of West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) participating countries.
The workshop is also to increase knowledge base of officials of the central banks in Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, The Gambia and Sierra Leone to get fully acquainted with the operations of the WAMI, single currency issues and the legal and technical framework of operation.
Dr Ojo noted that arguments that WAMI or the sub-region has set too ambitious targets for itself, was not tenable since it was most prudent for any work to be done within a specific time frame.
"We have a goal to achieve and if we stick to it as much as possible, we will definitely get to it," Dr Ojo added.
He said, " for once let us prove the sceptics wrong and show that we can do it. The fact is that we do not have any good record in the international arena concerning such matters. But it is about time we change all this."
Dr Ojo said with the immense infrastructure that has come up since ECOWAS was established in 1975, "we have no choice, but to ensure that we move on to meet our goals."
On the need for a referendum to ensure that the monetary programme succeeds, Dr Ojo said it was not a bad idea, "but we do not have any serious objection to the single monetary concept as the introduction of the Euro raised in Europe."
Speaking on the topic, West African Monetary Zone, Aims and Objectives and Strategy, Mr Riben David Asante, Technical Advisor, WAMI, said the objective for the formation of the fast track initiative was to merge two monetary zones into a single zone than to merge seven independent national currency zones with an established single currency zone.
He explained that the WAMZ programme has set up a number of institutions to realise the programme.
These are the WAMI, the Stabilization and Cooperation Fund, West African Financial Services Authority and the West African Central Bank, a common central bank to be responsible for the issue of the common currency, the ECO, as well as formulation and implementation of monetary policy.
He said though target for convergence criteria slated for July 2005, might be short, " it is achievable." The Sierra Leonean, Nigerian and The Gambian delegates called for increased education and sensitisation to make the programme of WAMI acceptable. 29 Oct 03
