60TH ORDINARY MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF GOVERNORS Virtually, Chaired from Abuja, Nigeria 25 August 2022
WEST AFRICAN MONETARY AGENCY
60TH ORDINARY MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF GOVERNORS
Virtually, Chaired from Abuja, Nigeria 25 August 2022
Remarks by Momodou Bamba Saho
Director General of WAMA
(As Prepared for Delivery)
▪ Chairman and Members of the Committee of Governors
▪ The Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture of the ECOWAS Commission
▪ Representative of the UEMOA Commission
▪ The Director General of WAMI
▪ The Director General of WAIFEM
▪ Secretary General of WABA
▪ Chairman and Members of the Technical Committee
▪ Delegates from the Central Banks and Ministries of Finance of ECOWAS Member States
▪ Representatives of Regional and International Institutions
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 60th Ordinary Meeting of the Committees of Governors of
central banks of ECOWAS Member States. The Committee of Governors’ Meeting is being held in a
virtual format for the fifth time.
Let me start by thanking the Chairman of the Committee of Governors, Mr. Godwin I. Emefiele,
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and his staff for their constructive leadership. With their
guidance, we were able to narrow our differences on several key aspects of the Roadmap for the
Launch of the ECO.
I extend my warmest congratulations and welcome to Dr. Jean Claude Kassi Brou on his
appointment as Governor of the BCEAO. I also congratulate Dr. Abdoulie Sireh Jallow and Dr. Paul
J. Mendy on their appointments as Deputy Governors of the Central Bank of The Gambia.
A special welcome and congratulations to Dr. Omar Alieu Touray on his appointment as the
President of the ECOWAS Commission. My congratulations also go to the new Commissioner for
Economic Affairs and Agriculture at the ECOWAS Commission, Mrs. Massandjé Touré-Liste. We
look forward to continued collaboration with the ECOWAS Commission to implement the Roadmap
successfully.
I also thank the WAMA staff for their contributions to the organisation of these meetings.
2
The WAMA Technical Advisory Committees completed their meetings on 25 August 2022. Today, the
Committee of Governors shall consider the outcome of the deliberations of the Economic and
Monetary Affairs Committee and the Operations and Administration Committee as well as the report
of the Audit Committee.
We are meeting during one of the most uncertain and severe periods in the implementation of the
ECOWAS Monetary Cooperation Program (EMCP). There continues to be significant uncertainty for
the global and regional economies. The ECOWAS economy was relatively resilient during the Asian
Financial Crisis and the Global Financial crisis. However, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was
more extensive and wide ranging. In 2020, the ECOWAS economy contracted by 0.8 percent, its
deepest decline in over two decades. In 2021, the ECOWAS economy returned to the path of
recovery with regional growth at 4.2 percent, with uneven recovery paths for Member States.
Inflation remained high, however, due to rising food and pump prices of fuel, and the collapse of
supply chains, as well as the pass-through effects of exchange rate depreciation. The region’s
average inflation rate reached 13.1 percent in 2021, from 11.1 percent in 2020.
Despite the improvements in some fiscal indicators, the public debt stock increased from 27.7
percent of GDP in 2020 to 33.3 percent in 2021, mainly due to the measures implemented by some
governments to support key sectors of the economy.
Policy makers in our region are faced with difficult choices of balancing between short term needs of
supporting businesses and households and the long term risks of costly unsustainable debt. In
addition, the effects of rising inflation are especially going to be painful for the lowest income
households in our economies. Further widening inequalities and increasing poverty in our countries.
This is of prime importance to our central bankers as you continue to closely monitor inflation
expectations and appropriately calibrate the pace of monetary policy tightening so as not to
jeapardize the recovery.
Continued strong policy action will be necessary to shield our economies from the headwinds and
keep the EMCP on track. Member States will need to comply with the convergence criteria in 2022 as
the declaration by the Authority of 2021 and 2022 as exceptional years expire. Compliance with the
macroeconomic convergence criteria will continue to be a challenge moving forward in the context
of the risks to the global growth outlook which include the war in Ukraine, heightened inflationary
pressures, rising debt, insecurity, climate related risks and pressures to maintain policy support.
Our most recent assessment of the economies of the Member States, which shall be presented to
you at these meetings, indicate that none of the Member States met all the four primary
convergence criteria at the end 2021, the same performance as at end 2020.
3
Since our last meeting in March 2022, WAMA has worked to implement the directives of the
Committee of Governors and the activities outlined in our Work Program for 2022. We have worked
with a subcommittee of central bank experts to determine the size and distribution of the capital and
the pooled external reserves of the CBWA. The Technical Committee has reached broad agreement
on key elements of this work which will be presented to the Committee of Governors at these
meetings.
We also presented to the Technical Committee an update on the implementation of the ECOWAS
Payment and Settlement Systems project. The Authority of Heads of State and Government, at its
61st Ordinary Session on 3 July 2022, adopted the Additional Act on the legal framework of the EPSS
bringing to closure several years of consultations on that issue. In furtherance of the EPSS project
objectives, WAMA is in constant communication with the AfDB and the World Bank as regards
possible funding for implementation of the technology solutions for the EPSS. We shall keep you
updated on developments in this regard.
Several other workstreams are ongoing to implement other aspects of the 2022 Work Program. We
shall report to you on those activities at the End-Year Statutory Meetings.
As regards internal institutional matters, we continued the consultations with WAMI and WAIFEM, as
directed by the Committee of Governors at its 59th Ordinary Meeting in March 2022 to harmonize
staff benefits and provident fund policies in the three institutions. The Technical Committee will
report to you on the status of this activity at this meeting.
The WAMA staff and myself appreciate the guidance of the Committee of Governors. We look
forward to your continued support as the Member States work to address the challenges of meeting
the objectives of the ECOWAS Monetary Cooperation Program.
Thank you