The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has formally agreed on a name for a planned common currency set to be launched in 2020.
"ECO was adopted as the name of the ECOWAS single currency," representatives of the 15-member group agreed in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Saturday.
"Afri" and "Kola" had been other names suggested that were rejected by the members.
An ECOWAS statement said the aim was a "gradual approach to the single currency starting with countries that meet the convergent criteria."
Currently, eight ECOWAS countries - Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo - jointly use the West African CFA franc, while the seven others, including Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, have their own separate currencies.
In the communiqué read by Mr Mustapha Suleiman, Nigeria’s Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Authority instructed the ECOWAS Commission to work in collaboration with West African Monetary Agency.
The leaders also instructed the commission to work with West African Monetary Institute and the central banks to accelerate the implementation of the revised roadmap with regard to the symbol of the single currency.
The Authority also directed the commission and the central banks to accelerate the operation of the Special Fund for financing of programmes in the revised Roadmap for the ECOWAS Single Currency Programme.
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