(i) To promote international monetary corporation through a permanent institution which provides the machinery for consultation and collaboration on international monetary problems.
(ii) To facilitate the expansion and balanced growth of international trade, and to contribute thereby to the promotion and maintenance of high levels of employment and real income and to the development of the productive resources of all members as primary objectives of economic policy.
For more go to: www.imf.org
The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. It is not a bank in the common sense. It is made up of two unique development institutions owned by 184 member countries—the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). Each institution plays a different but supportive role in the mission of global poverty reduction and the improvement of living standards. The IBRD focuses on middle income and creditworthy poor countries, while IDA focuses on the poorest countries in the world. Together they provide low-interest loans, interest-free credit and grants to developing countries for education, health, infrastructure, communications and many other purposes.
For more go to: www.worldbank.org
The West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) is the facilitator institution for the establishment of a single monetary zone within the member countries of the West African Monetary Zone, which would then constitute a second monetary zone in the ECOWAS sub-region.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was launched in 1975 with the objective of integrating the economies of the member states of the sub region. But after twenty-five years of existence, not much had been achieved in terms of economic or monetary union.
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For more go to: www.wami-imao.org
The West African Monetary Agency, WAMA was inaugurated in September 1996 with responsible for coordinating the affairs of member countries of West Africa towards the attainment of the Single Monetary Zone for ECOWAS.
Attempts at monetary integration in the sub-region can be traced back to 1975 when central banks in the sub-region signed the agreement to set up the West African Clearing House (WACH). It was a multilateral payment arrangement involving all the then eleven central banks in the sub-region (including the BCEAO) and also the participation of the commercial banks in the sixteen West African countries.
WACH was to promote the use of local currencies for sub-regional transactions in order to bring about savings in the use of foreign exchange. It was also to encourage member countries to liberalize trade and to also consult frequently among themselves on issues of monetary cooperation.
In 1978, the West African sub-regional committee of the Association of African Central Banks also decided on the creation of a West African Banker’s Association (WABA) embracing commercial banks, development banks and other credit institutions in the sub-region. The objective was to exchange information on banking practices and strengthen links within commercial banks in the sub-region and also to serve as an intermediary between the central banks and the commercial banks at the sub-regional level.
For more go to:
www.aacb.org
The Treaty of Lagos, establishing ECOWAS, was signed in May 1975 by 15 states, with the object of promoting trade, co-operation, integration and self-reliance in West Africa, Cape Verde joined in 1977. A revised ECOWAS treaty, designed to accelerate economic integration and to increase political co-operation, was drafted in 1991-92, and was signed in July 1993.
For more go to: www.ecowas.int
