AN ASSESSMENT OF THE STATUS OF MACROECONOMIC CONVERGENCE IN THE WEST AFRICAN MONETARY ZONE (2015 AND BEYOND)

Multilateral Surveillance & Trade Department and Research & Statistics Department
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Multilateral Surveillance & Trade Department: West African Monetary Institute, Accra, Ghana
Research & Statistics Department: West African Monetary Institute, Accra, Ghana

West African Journal of Monetary and Economic Integration, 2020, vol. 20, issue 1b, 77-105

Abstract: Member States of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) have made considerable efforts to meet the ECOWAS macroeconomic convergence criteria on a bumpy road to regional integration in West Africa. However, the launch of the single monetary zone in the WAMZ was postponed several times owing to difficulties in complying with the convergence benchmarks on a sustained basis. This study assesses the status of macroeconomic convergence of WAMZ countries in readiness for the launching of the ECOWAS Single Currency Programme 2020. Available data showed that, no WAMZ Member State complied with all the primary criteria on a sustained basis during 2015 – 2019 as required by the Macroeconomic Convergence and Stability Pact, posing threats to the actualisation of the ECOWAS Single Currency Programme 2020. The study recommended among others the need for WAMZ countries to develop national convergence programmes on the prescribed convergence criteria and amend their Public Financial Management Acts to enable them set limits for budget deficits in line with the convergence thresholds.

Keywords: ECOWAS Single Currency Programme; Macroeconomic Convergence; primary criteria; WAMZ (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F15 F45 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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