As of 2020, the countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) should abandon the CFA and progressively adopt ECOWAS’ single currency. This was revealed on Saturday, 16, 2017 by Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, the president of Burkina Faso, in Ouagadougou. The decision was taken during the 52^nd ordinary session of the Conference of ECOWAS’ Heads of State and Government held the same day in Abuja, Nigeria.

“We will do it progressively so that countries which meet the convergence criteria can start fabricating ECOWAS’ currency, until the other countries can comply and integrate the currency’s fabrication process (...) anyhow, we have maintained that in 2020, this currency shall exist and be effective”, Burkina Faso’s president said to the press in Ouagadougou, Xinhua reported.

According to experts, this speech which seems clear-cut could be seen as some “paradigm change” in the relations between France and its former West African colonies. During his trip in Ouagadougou, late November, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, who said that he was for a name change or an enlargement of the scope of CFA, had promised that France would support the solution adopted by African presidents.

However, the calendar for the effective implementation of the new currency which is an important integration tool for economies in this community is another fundamental challenge. Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s president, in fact, remains skeptical about the starting date which is 2020.

“To that end, Nigeria will caution against any position that pushes for a fast-track approach to monetary union, while neglecting fundamentals and other pertinent issues”, the president of the first economy in the sub-region warned.

Indeed, started 17 years ago, the sub-regional monetary integration process which would have resulted in the creation of a single currency, in order to promote regional trade and investments, has not made much progress. The many starting dates announced, combined with the wave of protests against the CFA within WAEMU, have created confusion around the process, over these last months.

Fiacre E. Kakpo