6th May 2005:

Come 2009 we either succeed or forget it - Jammeh

President Yahya Jammeh the new chairman of the authority of heads of state and government of WAMZ, the West African Monetary Zone, has reminded his colleagues of the commitment made to their peoples to launch a single currency by July 2005.

Based on several factors, as highlighted in the final report of the WAMZ convergence council, the July 2005 launching of the single currency, called the ECO, has now been shifted to 1st December 2009. Come the new deadline of December 2009, the African leaders have to launch the single currency or forget about the whole thing, because it then means things will not materialise.

"We have made many extension of this particular issue, and if all the heads of states involved in this monetary union are really committed, there will be no more extension after 2009 for the launching of this single currency", President Jammeh declared when he officially closed the one-day WAMZ summit conference held at the Kairaba Beach Hotel on Friday evening.

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone, the prime minister of Guinea Conakry, Seillou Jallow, and ministers representing the presidents of Ghana and Nigeria attended this eight WAMZ summit held in Banjul on May 6.

In his closing remarks, the Gambian leader pointed out that, The Gambia, apart, all the other members countries of the WAMZ are rich in mineral resources, which could have gone a long way toward the development of this region.

"It takes hard work to build a superhighway", he said, and called on his colleagues "to work as a team for our own development".
Emphasising that this cannot be possible without peace and stability, President Jammeh added that everything possible must be done to ensure that peace and stability are reinforced in West Africa, to facilitate economic integration.
Member countries of WAMZ have a bright future together, but it would take "very strong political will" to get there, he pointed out.

Earlier on Friday afternoon, in his address to formally open the WAMZ summit meeting, President Jammeh spoke of significant progress made since the signing of the Accra Declaration on 20 April 2000, toward the goal of monetary union. "We have all invested significant resources and staked our credibility on this programme because we believe and are convinced that the benefits of an economically integrated WAMZ far outweigh the costs. There is, therefore, no looking back.

"I, however, appreciate the fact that despite the significant progress made so far, major challenges still remain to be confronted that require our concerted efforts and strong will in order to actualize our vision".

The most significant challenge facing the WAMZ programme is that of achieving and maintaining a high level of macro economic convergence, the new chairman pointed out.
Statistical harmonisation and coordination of trade and fiscal policies "have moved at unacceptably slow pace", and "the challenge now is to expedite the pace of policy harmonisation". Another issue of critical importance, according to President Jammeh, is the "outstanding financial contributions of member states to the implementation of the WAMZ programme".

The WAMZ convergence council, in its final report at its 17th meeting in Banjul revealed that, as regards "outstanding financial contributions as at 30th April 2005", member states owed a total of US$22.85 million to the stabilization and cooperation fund (SCF), and US$75.5 million to the West African central bank (WACB).

President Jammeh pointed out that the achievement of monetary union, characterised by the introduction of a single currency and the establishment of a common central bank, would contribute to the effective implementation of the ECOWAS monetary cooperation programme (EMCP). This should lead to the eventual merger with the CFA Franc zone to bring about a single ECOWAS currency.