{"id":7527,"date":"2015-06-02T09:54:19","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T09:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/?p=7527"},"modified":"2016-03-04T12:26:26","modified_gmt":"2016-03-04T12:26:26","slug":"ecowas-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/ecowas-40\/","title":{"rendered":"ECOWAS at 40"},"content":{"rendered":"
The signing of the Lagos Treaty on 28 May 1975<\/a> established the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).\u00a0 Its purpose was to foster regional cooperation and integration, in order to raise the living standards of West Africans. Despite the region being forecast to achieve GDP growth of 7% in 2015, the average income remains a paltry USD$3.40 per day. Newly-elected Commission Chairman<\/a>, Senegalese President Macky Sall, has much work to do.<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
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To mark the 40th<\/sup> anniversary of ECOWAS, Africa Research Institute, in partnership with The Africa Report<\/a>, hosted a panel discussion to debate its continued relevance and role in improving regional economic, cultural and political integration. Our assembled experts \u2013 Arnold Ekpe<\/a>, V\u00e9ronique Tadjo<\/a> and Patrick Smith<\/a> \u2013 shared their thoughts and responded to wide-ranging questions from the audience.<\/p>\n

Ekpe on the economy:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

An ECOWAS single currency:<\/strong> The single currency remains a dream. It does not make economic sense when the West African economies are so heterogeneous. Regional convertibility is a more sensible approach and would encourage the free movement of capital across the region. The proposed Eco currency would have to be based on the Naira because Nigeria\u2019s economy accounts for 77% of regional wealth; but this would be unacceptable to the francophone countries that use the CFA Franc. They are unable to provide a viable counter-proposal because the CFA is pegged to the Euro and guaranteed by France. How can you have a West African currency without having control of setting policy, printing money and a central bank?<\/p>\n

Economic leadership: <\/strong>Currently we look outside, to Europe and elsewhere, for solutions to our economic problems. We must learn to look within Africa. I would support an Africa-Africa summit to discuss how we can work together to move forward economically. There is a lack of visionary pan-African leadership. Within ECOWAS I see a willingness to get things done but an inability to execute; moving from talk to action has always been its biggest challenge.<\/p>\n

The fallacy of the African economic miracle:<\/strong> The 6-7% GDP annual growth figures we see in West Africa are not good enough. China grew at double digits for three decades<\/a> to catch up. If Africa is to do the same we need to create bigger markets and big banks to finance infrastructure. If a country has 45 banks, they have 40 too many.<\/p>\n

Funding development: <\/strong>Some African countries have struggled to attract foreign investment for ambitious infrastructure projects. Ethiopia financed its new dam by raising money from its own citizens. More attention needs to be paid to domestic revenue mobilisation if we are to create a pool of revenues for investment. Countries cannot develop from external funding alone.<\/p>\n