Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo has announced that the country will join 8 other West African countries to use Eco. Ghana will ditch Cedi, its current currency, and join Eco next year in as much as it does not belong to the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).
Ghana will be the largest economy to adopt Eco, behind Ivory Coast. However, it does not belong to UEMOA unlike other countries rallying for the new currency. According to the president, the new currency will help remove trade and monetary barriers among member states.
“We, in Ghana, are determined to do whatever we can to enable us to join the Member States of UEMOA, soon, in the use of the Eco, We believe, it will help remove trade and monetary barriers,” New York Times quotes President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Earlier, the monetary union mostly consisting of former colonies announced that it will renounce the CFA Franc for the Eco. Under the new arrangement, members of the union will adopt Eco by the end of 2020, removing their currency reserves from France. Nevertheless, the union will keep Eco pegged on the Euro.
Countries looking to transition to Eco include Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.
SEE: West African Countries to Move from French CFA Currency to Eco by 2020
Furthermore, Ghana is also urging UEMOA to ditch the euro peg, pushing for a flexible exchange rate regime.
