Jul 30, 2026 · 9 min · 8 segments
ECOWAS is once again targeting 2027 for the launch of the Eco, a shared currency intended to make trade, payments, and investment easier across West Africa. This episode traces the project’s…
That promise has been made before.
Deadlines have slipped, political disagreements have emerged, and countries have repeatedly failed to meet the economic conditions required for monetary union.
Launch first with the countries that qualify and allow others to join later.
She starts with CFA francs, converts them into Nigerian naira, and may use Ghanaian cedis to pay suppliers in Accra.
Every conversion creates a cost, every currency movement can reduce her margin.
That experience is repeated by traders, manufacturers, students, migrant workers, and families across the region.
A single currency could lower conversion fees, simplify payments, make prices easier to compare, and reduce exchange rate risk.
That is the economic prize behind the ICO.
The idea dates back to 1983, when ECOWAS leaders commissioned studies on a unified monetary zone.
It was later written into the revised ECOWAS Treaty, which called for a regional central bank and a single currency.
West Africa, however, is already divided between different monetary systems.
Eight countries use the CFA franc through the West African Economic and Monetary Union, or WAEMU.
In 2000, they created the West African Monetary Zone, or WAMZ, intending to launch a separate currency before merging it with the CFA franc zone.
That launch was scheduled for 2003, then 2005, 2010, and 2015.
None of those deadlines survived.
But a dispute emerged after Cote d'Ivoire announced plans to reform and rename the CFA franc as the ECO while retaining its euro peg.
They wanted a new ESOWAS-wide currency, not a renamed CFA franc.
Then came the pandemic, wider fiscal deficits, higher inflation, and another postponement to 2027.
That promise has been made before.
Deadlines have slipped, political disagreements have emerged, and countries have repeatedly failed to meet the economic conditions required for monetary union.
Launch first with the countries that qualify and allow others to join later.
She starts with CFA francs, converts them into Nigerian naira, and may use Ghanaian cedis to pay suppliers in Accra.
Every conversion creates a cost, every currency movement can reduce her margin.
That experience is repeated by traders, manufacturers, students, migrant workers, and families across the region.
A single currency could lower conversion fees, simplify payments, make prices easier to compare, and reduce exchange rate risk.
That is the economic prize behind the ICO.
The idea dates back to 1983, when ECOWAS leaders commissioned studies on a unified monetary zone.
It was later written into the revised ECOWAS Treaty, which called for a regional central bank and a single currency.
West Africa, however, is already divided between different monetary systems.
Eight countries use the CFA franc through the West African Economic and Monetary Union, or WAEMU.
In 2000, they created the West African Monetary Zone, or WAMZ, intending to launch a separate currency before merging it with the CFA franc zone.
That launch was scheduled for 2003, then 2005, 2010, and 2015.
None of those deadlines survived.
But a dispute emerged after Cote d'Ivoire announced plans to reform and rename the CFA franc as the ECO while retaining its euro peg.
They wanted a new ESOWAS-wide currency, not a renamed CFA franc.
Then came the pandemic, wider fiscal deficits, higher inflation, and another postponement to 2027.
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