The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has cautioned the Economic Community of West African State, ECOWAS, against hasty launch of the proposed monetary union.
Under the arrangement, member states will use a single currency, ECO, as it obtains among members of the European Union, EU, where the Euro is now in use.
Addressing the Convergence Meeting of West African Monetary Zone, WAMZโs Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors in Abuja yesterday, she argued that the sub-region must be fully ready, through a sustained macro-economic stability among member states, before launching the monetary union.
She said: โWe must take cognizance of the recent happenings in the Euro Zone and ensure that the lessons learnt are fully integrated in the recommendations that you will be making so as to avoid the pitfalls that bedeviled that monetary zone.
Lists criteria
โWhile I urge all of us to work hard towards meeting the set target date, we must not forget that the most sacrosanct objective in this endeavour is not a hasty launch of our monetary union, but an enduring and sustainable one that can stand the test of time when it is put in place.
โIn a nutshell, we should only feel compelled to launch when we are comfortable that the economic fundamentals for a successful monetary union are in place.โ
Okonjo-Iweala insisted that all member states must be ready before the launch in order to avoid a situation where some would pull out midway.
She said: โI think the issues of a monetary union is a serious affair. The EU has been at it for some time. In spite of that, look at the challenges they are facing, where some members were not ready. They went into the union and it was not a very solid platform.
โConsequently, when the financial crisis came, they were not able to withstand it. There is nobody chasing us. We have a target date but let us have a quality launch that will be sustained.
โMembers will begin to exit when they cannot cope up with the criteria and that does not help. I want all the countries to focus on those criteria, especially the macro-economic ones.โ
Nigeria in danger ifโฆ
She added that Nigeria, being the largest economy in the sub-region, would be the worst-hit should the union go awry.
The Minister said: โNigeria is the largest economy. We are likely to bear the brunt. So, we do not want any union or launch of a monetary union that is not built on a solid ground.
โBut I must commend the countries; they are trying very hard. So let us take our time. If the time comes and we are not quite ready, we should not be shy to say we are not ready. Rather than rushing into it because the consequences of a failed monetary union are severe.
โSo we should do it in such a way that we can always reflect. Let them take stock now and see how far we have gone. Let us have a quality launch.โ
On local production
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala also said the community needed to pay particular attention to local production of goods to avoid a situation where it would be turned into a dumping ground for manufactured goods from other regions of the world.
According to her, this can hurt member-countriesโ economies.
In his remarks, the President of ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Kadre Ouedrogo, said Security Ministers of member states would meet to critically look into the security implications of an ECOWAS where citizens would move freely without resident permits.
He said the objective of the union was to create a sub-region where there would be genuine integration of people, not just integration of countries.
