Soon, the euro may obtain a new colleague from Africa. The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is planning to launch its single currency “eco”.

The news was announced by Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, President of the ECOWAS Commission, during the latest summit.  All the 15 countries of the ECOWAS intend to participate in the project development. According to the new road map, the new currency will be launched in 2027. It is quite a short period of time for such a large-scale project.  At the moment, only 7 countries of the ECOWAS have their own currencies, others use the West African franc.

Discussions of the single African currency began in 2019. Then, representatives of the ECOWAS and France agreed to change the mechanism of the CFA franc zone.  In fact, the franc will be just renamed to "eco” and it will still depend on the euro. The CFA franc was introduced in December 1945 on the French territories in Western and Equatorial  Africa.