VP Njie-Saidy presides over the 23rd WAMZ meeting

Her Excellency, Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy, vice - president and secretary of state for Women’s Affairs, last Friday, presided over the 23rd meeting of the Council of Ministers and Governors of the Central Banks of the West Africa Monetary Zone, (WAMZ).

The meeting, which was held at the Kairaba Beach Hotel, in Kololi, gave delegates the opportunity to discuss and examine member countries’ positions in the drive for the introduction of a single currency in the West Africa region.

WAMZ, conceived and supported by ECOWAS,  is expected to assess its member countries’ position and come up with recomendations for the final introduction of a common currency.

Experts  believe that when the common currency is operational, it will enhance economic integration and help develop the economy of its member states.

Officially declaring the meeting open, Vice President  Njie-Saidy, described Monetary Union as a promoter of macro-economic  stability and growth by maintaining mixed-up physical monitoring policy, among other issues.
She then observed that WAMZ could play significant role in the global economy and improve the welfare of its citizens.

"The creation of a successful monetary union such as WAMZ requires  achieving a high degree of sustainable macro-economic convergence as we pledged for ourselves in our sub-region," the vice president noted, and added, "the Gambia’s commitment to a sound, excellent and  prudent economic management, ensured that growth in GDP reached 6% over 5 years.

Inflation is well contained with a single digit, and the overall physical balance improves significantly in 2006, as well as 2007."

Vice President Njie Saidy went on to say that “as a result of this,The Gambia is in good shape. She called on other member states to copy The example of The Gambia by ensuring that  the interest of all member states  towards establishing a single currency is realise.

Speaking earlier, Mousa Gibril Bala Gaye, the secretary of state for Finance and Economic Affairs, gave a historical background of WAMZ and pointed out that its objective was to establish a monetary union characterised by a common Central Bank and a single currency that will replace the existing national currencies of member states.

 He went on to say that this will develop the sub-region through trade,  movement of goods and services within the region, among others.

"The monetary union was originally scheduled to take off in January 2003.  However, following the 2002 mid term  convergence review, it was concluded that the convergence achievement recorded were not sufficient enough to support the January 2003 launch.  Some of the challenges identified were inflation, the soaring petroleum and public utility prices in some member countries and the problem of physical dominance", Secretary of State Bala Gaye stated.

"Two out of the five member countries, namely, The Gambia and Nigeria, satisfied all the four primary convergence criteria. Ghana and Sierra Leone met two of the primary convergence criteria, while Guinea Bissau improved on the attainment of one to two primary convergence criteria", the Finance secretary explained.

He recalled that the WAMZ payment and settlement system for The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau was successfully launched in Banjul, recently. He went onto  explained that the objective of the payment system is to upgrade The payment systems of The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau to the same level of Ghana and Nigeria, to facilitate the harmonisation of the payment system in all the member countries of WAMZ.

David Carew, the chairman of the Convergence Council, who also doubles as the finance minister of Sierra Leone,  praised the achievement  recorded by member countries by putting in place positive economic policies and budgetary management.

He went on to say that the initiative will not only promote economic integration but that it will also foster unity and bilateral cooperation. 

Mr Carew also spoke at length on the challenges faced by developing countries.

He appealed to all member states to ensure that the project succeed, “so that we enjoy the economic benefits of regional integration.”

A representative of the ECOWAS Commission, Professor Lambert Bamba, also spoke at length on ECOWAS’ resolve to supporting member countries towards fulfilling the criteria of WAMZ. "The struggle for a single currency will enhance economic development of Africa", he remarked.