Opinion Piece

The proposed ECOWAS single currency, the ECO, represents one of the most ambitious monetary integration projects in contemporary Africa. However, repeated postponements of the takeoff date reveal deep structural and political constraints. This paper acknowledges that the two most significant obstacles to implementation are (1) insufficient political commitment among West African leaders compounded by enduring French influence over the CFA franc zone, and (2) macroeconomic divergence between anglophone and francophone economies within ECOWAS.

The ECO has been promised, planned, and postponed five times since the Accra Declaration of 2000 launched the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ). Each postponement has carried a different proximate cause; the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, failure to meet macroeconomic convergence criteria, the 2020 unilateral UEMOA renaming controversy. All these divergent causes share a common deep structure; the region has not yet resolved the fundamental tension between two monetary blocs with radically different institutional histories, macroeconomic conditions, and political relationships with external powers.

The Banjul announcement in August 2025 of new target set for July 2027 reinforced by the February 2026 Monrovia meetings of ECOWAS Central Bank Governors and Nigeria’s landmark appointment to the Board of the African Monetary Institute (AMI) at the AU’s 39th Ordinary Session, suggest the political will has not collapsed. What remains at risk is the design. Drawing on Optimal Currency Area (OCA) theory and Political Economy Analysis (PEA), the paper proposes a new phased approach initiating with current CFA franc member states as a pragmatic pathway toward economic and financial sovereignty that will pave the way for eventual full ECOWAS monetary union. Such sequencing will address the political issues head-on, enhance credibility, reduce systemic risk, and gradually build the convergence necessary for broader integration. Finally, the paper makes recommendations to key policy actors in the region for an effective African-oriented ECO implementation.