---
title: "West African States Postpone Launch of Regional Currency to 2027"
description: "An ambitious plan for 15 West African countries to adopt a common currency has been pushed back to 2027."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Business Maverick"
author: "Bloomberg"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/bloomberg/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-06-21-west-african-states-postpone-launch-of-regional-currency-to-2027/"
published: "2021-06-21T03:56:44"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 155
---

# West African States Postpone Launch of Regional Currency to 2027

> An ambitious plan for 15 West African countries to adopt a common currency has been pushed back to 2027.

By Bloomberg · Published 21 June 2021, 05:56 SAST

## Content

The eco, meant to have been launched in 2020, was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and its aftershocks, the Economic Community of West African States said in a statement on Saturday, following an ordinary session held in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.

“We have a new road map and the new convergence path that will cover the period of 2022 to 2026,” Ecowas Commission President Jean-Claude Kassi Brou said in the statement. “2027, that will be the launching of the eco.”

[Read more: Ivorian President Sees New Regional Currency on Hold Until 2023](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-26/ivorian-president-doesn-t-see-move-from-cfa-within-three-years)

The West African bloc has been pursuing a common currency project for more than two decades to help remove trade barriers, ease the cost of doing business, and boost economic growth in a region of more than 380 million people.

Within the bloc, eight countries that already share the CFA franc have started reforms of their own ahead of the wider currency project.