Nigeria leads 6 nations opposed to change of CFA franc to Eco

Six West African countries have criticised what the changes of the regional CFA Franc currency to Eco, saying its not in line with what was agreed for the adoption of a single regional currency.

Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Ivorian counterpart Alassane Ouattara announced that the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAMU) would adopt major reforms including a name change and a degree of independence from France.

WAMU is made up of eight former French colonies and former Portuguese colony Guinea Bissau.

On Thursday, Nigeria, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia and Gambia criticised the move at the end of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) meeting.

‘‘The renaming of CFA franc is not in line with the decisions of the authority of heads of state and government of Ecowas for the adoption of the ‘eco’ as the name of an independent single currency,” the group told Bloomberg News.

The group is calling for an extraordinary summit of leaders of Ecowas, the West African regional group made of 15 nations, to discuss the matter.

ECOWAS had also announced last year that it would create a single currency called Eco.