Ghana achieved two of the four convergence criteria towards WAMZ

Ghana achieved two out of the four main convergence criteria for the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ). Dr Abdul Wahab Alhassan, Chairman of the Technical Committee of WAMZ disclosed this to newsmen in Conakry on Thursday, during the meeting of the Heads of State and Government of member states of WAMZ.

He said Ghana attained a budget deficit of three per cent while the Central Bank Financing of government deficit was about nine per cent. The Convergence criteria were a single digit inflation rate of about five per cent by April this year, Central Bank Financing of government deficit of less than 10 per cent of the previous year's revenue, Government budget deficit of five per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Foreign Exchange Reserves in three months of import. Dr Alhassan who is also the Director, Policy Analysis Division of the Ministry of Finance, said inflation rate from the beginning of the year at 41 per cent was now about 12.6 per cent.

He said member countries were on course to achieve the targets for the adoption of one currency but not within the time frame of January 2003, hence the suggestion by the Technical Committee for an extension of time.

Dr Alhassan said Gambia had been the best performer to achieve all the four criteria within the period but currently, had achieved only three, while Nigeria, Guinea and Sierra Leone had achieved at least one.

The Chairman of the Technical Committee said there was a new provision that when two or three member states achieved the criteria, the convergence could begin without necessarily waiting for the other countries.