An Evaluation of the Viability of a Single Monetary Zone in ECOWAS PDF Download

Author: E. Olawale Ogunkola
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Author: Moritz Becker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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In recent years, there has been a notable increase in the efforts to establish a monetary union within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Initially scheduled for implementing a common currency in 2003, ECOWAS had agreed to introduce a common currency called the Eco by 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the implementation of the Eco currency was postponed until 2027. This study adds to the existing research on the feasibility of the Eco as a common currency for ECOWAS. It adopts the framework proposed by Bayoumi and Eichengreen (1997) to operationalize the Optimal Currency Area (OCA) theory. Using OLS estimation, the study models the relationship between OCA conditions and the bilateral nominal exchange rate volatility (BNER) among West African countries from 2000 to 2021. The study's findings indicate that the Eco could be considered feasible for the countries within the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. However, Ghana and especially Nigeria do not meet the OCA conditions to the same extent as the other countries. Consequently, an immediate monetary union encompassing all ECOWAS member countries may not be feasible. Nevertheless, the study's policy implications strongly advocate for a gradual integration approach, similar to the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union (EMU).

Author: William A. Barnett
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1804557609
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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This volume of the International Symposia in Economic Theory and Econometrics explores the latest economic and financial developments in Africa and Asia.

Author: Eswar Prasad
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815738544
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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" Assessing the potential benefits and risks of a currency union Leaders of the fifteen-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have set a goal of achieving a monetary and currency union by late 2020. Although some progress has been made toward achieving this ambitious goal, major challenges remain if the region is to realize the necessary macroeconomic convergence and establish the required institutional framework in a relatively short period of time. The proposed union offers many potential benefits, especially for countries with historically high inflation rates and weak central banks. But, as implementation of the euro over the past two decades has shown, folding multiple currencies, representing disparate economies, into a common union comes with significant costs, along with operational challenges and transitional risks. All these potential negatives must be considered carefully by ECOWAS leaders seeking tomeet a self-imposed deadline. This book, by two leading experts on economics and Africa, makes a significant analytical contribution to the debates now under way about how ECOWAS could achieve and manage its currency union, andthe ramifications for the African continent. "

Author: Kwame A. Ninsin
Publisher: KARTHALA Editions
ISBN: 2811101667
Category : Africa, West
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Since the Treaty establishing the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was signed in 1975, several protocole have been adopted providing the legal and institutional framework for implementing the integration of the West African sub-region. Ail social and political stakeholders agree that regional integration is a major challenge for development in West Africa. Yet the regional integration process has been affected by many delays, even failures. Member states have pursued a seemingly contradictory dual objective: build a Nation-state within colonial Borders and achieve regional integration to fight against under-development. Can national planning priorities be reconciled with the demands and objectives of regional integration processes in West Africa ? Since 2005, under the auspices of the Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme initiative, the Social and Human Sciences Sector of UNESCO has organized a series of national seminars on West African regional integration in the ECOWAS region. Four seminars have so far been organized in Senegal, Mali, Benin and Ghana. This anthology publishes papers presented at Ghana's national seminar on "Nation-states and the Challenge of Regional Integration in West Africa: the Case of Ghana", held in Accra from 8 to 9 November 2005. The contributors suggest that Ghana's reluctance to relinquish its sovereignty stemmed from a lack of commitment in the first 20 years of ECOWAS' existence and preoccupation with its own security and survival against internai and externat threats. The state has currently demonstrated renewed commit-ment by establishing a Ministry of Regional Cooperation and the New Agenda for Africa's Development (NEPAD) to coordinate and manage the sub-regional integration programme. In spite of positive developments, results have been disappointing. The new ministry remains isolated and is constrained by limited resources in finance and manpower. Its approach to integration issues has been elitist and technocratic, concentrating on format trade and ignoring the importance of the informai trade that has been the traditional means of popular participation in the integration of West African economies. Borderland communities with economic and social ties continue to engage in exchanges across political boundaries in defiance of national and state security concerns. Empowerment of Ghanaians involved in small-scale, informa] cross-border trade (in majority, women) "would not only increase the levels of social and economic integration, but would make the benefits of integration available to large sections of the population".

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Africa
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Author: Paul R. Masson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780815797531
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Africa is working toward the goal of creating a common currency that would serve as a symbol of African unity. The advantages of a common currency include lower transaction costs, increased stability, and greater insulation of central banks from pressures to provide monetary financing. Disadvantages relate to asymmetries among countries, especially in their terms of trade and in the degree of fiscal discipline. More disciplined countries will not want to form a union with countries whose excessive spending puts upward pressure on the central bank's monetary expansion. In T he Monetary Geography of Africa, Paul Masson and Catherine Pattillo review the history of monetary arrangements on the continent and analyze the current situation and prospects for further integration. They apply lessons from both experience and theory that lead to a number of conclusions. To begin with, West Africa faces a major problem because Nigeria has both asymmetric terms of trade—it is a large oil exporter while its potential partners are oil importers—and most important, large fiscal imbalances. Secondly, a monetary union among all eastern or southern African countries seems infeasible at this stage, since a number of countries suffer from the effects of civil conflicts and drought and are far from achieving the macroeconomic stability of South Africa. Lastly, the plan by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to create a common currency seems to be generally compatible with other initiatives that could contribute to greater regional solidarity. However, economic gains would likely favor Kenya, which, unlike the other two countries, has substantial exports to its neighbors, and this may constrain the political will needed to proceed. A more promising strategy for monetary integration would be to build on existing monetary unions—the CFA franc zone in western and central Africa and the Common Monetary Area in southern Africa. Masson and Pattillo argue that the goal of a creating a s

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Africa
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Author: Thomas Farole
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821386395
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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"This book, designed for policymakers, academics and researchers, and SEZ program practitioners, provides the first systematic and comprehensive analysis of SEZ programs in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the result of detailed surveys and case studies conducted during 2009 in ten developing countries, including six in Sub-Saharan Africa. The book provides quantitative evidence of the performance of SEZs, and of the factors which contribute to that performance, highlighting the critical importance not just of the SEZ itself but of the wider national investment climate in which it functions. It also provides a comprehensive guide to the key policy questions that confront governments establishing SEZ programs, including: if and when to launch an SEZ program, what form of SEZ is most appropriate, and how to go about implementing it. Among the most important findings from the study that is stressed in the book is the shift from traditional enclave models of zones to SEZs that are integrated ? with national trade and industrial strategies, with core trade and social infrastructure, with domestic suppliers, and with local labor markets.Although the book focuses primarily on the experience of Sub-Saharan Africa, its lessons will be applicable to developing countries around the world."

Author: Etienne B. Yehoue
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Currency question
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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