West African Monetary Institute
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE AS AT JAN. 2010
WEST AFRICAN MONETARY ZONE (WAMZ)
1. What is the WAMZ
The WAMZ is the West African
Monetary Zone (WAMZ). It is an institutional cooperative framework for achieving
monetary union under the
2.
Membership
Five countries are members of the
WAMZ. They are namely: The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
Liberia and Cape Verde
3.
Legal Existence
The WAMZ came into existence on 15th
December 2000 when the five countries signed the articles of Agreement of the
Zone at the
4.
Objective
The objective of the WAMZ is to
establish a monetary union characterized by a common central bank and a single
currency to replace the
5.
Organs
The organs of the Zone are:
·
The Authority of
Heads of State and Government – It is the supreme body of the zone made up of
the Heads of State and
·
The Convergence
Council
It is the policy body of the Zone
composed of four Ministers from each country representing the Ministries of
Foreign Affairs,
·
The Committee of
Governors
The Committee of
Governors of Central Banks consists of the Governors of the Central banks of the
five countries,
·
The Technical
Committee
The Technical Committee is
the expert body that reviews reports and makes proposals for the consideration
of
6.
Institutions
The West African Monetary
Institute
WAMI, the interim institution akin
to the EMI of the EU, was set up in December 2000 and started operations in
Accra, March 2001
The main functions of WAMI are:
-
to monitor and assess the
macro-economic convergence performance of member states;
-
to undertake technical
preparations for establishing the common central bank; and
-
to undertake sensitisation
of stakeholders.
The Stabilisation and Cooperation
Fund (SCF)
The SCF is the solidarity fund
with an initial called-up capital of $50 million set up to provide temporary
balance of payments
The West African Central Bank (WACB)
This is the common central bank
that is expected to commence operations in July 2005. At the moment its statue
adopted in
7. Achievements
The main achievements of the zone
so far are adopting the legal, institutional and administrative framework of the
Zone such as:
-
the Agreement of the WAMZ
-
the WACB Statutes
-
the Provisions relating to
the establishment of the SCF
-
the Statutes of WAMI
·
The setting up of
the WAMI
·
The initiation of
the framework for monitoring and assessment of the macro-economic convergence
criteria
·
Initiation of a
zonal sensitisation programme and launching of National Sensitization Committees
(NSC).
·
The putting together
and adoption of relevant policy framework for the setting up and operations of
the common central bank
·
The introduction of
a WAMZ exchange rate mechanism
·
The introduction of
studies to develop a centralised banking supervisory authority to be known as
WAFSA and an efficient
8.
Constraints
The main constraint encountered so
far has been the inability of all member states to meet the convergence criteria
on a consistent and
9. Extension of Period
for Monetary Union
A comprehensive assessment by WAMI
of the status of preparedness of member states to form the monetary union in
2003 indicated the
10. Main Elements of the
Extension 2003 – 2005
The main elements to focus on
during the period of extension are:
-
Multilateral Surveillance
involving quarterly monitoring and assessment of country performance;
-
adoption of country
programmes and incorporation of convergence targets in national budgets and
economic programmes;
-
Monitoring of qualitative
aspects of integration including the movement of persons, goods and capital;
-
Undertaking sustained
campaign of sensitization; and
-
Putting in place the
essential architectural building blocks of the union.
11. Critical Actions and Expected Results 2003 – 2005
The main actions to be undertaken
and resultant output are included in the Table below.
Achieving
Macroeconomic Convergence
·
Incorporation of
Convergence Targets into national budgets by Ministries of Finance
·
6 Monthly Review of
Fiscal Performance by Forum of Finance Ministers
·
Quarterly monitoring
of Convergence Performance by WAMI
·
Four monthly
assessment of Convergence performance by Council
·
Final Assessment of
Status of Convergence (April 2005)
Institutional
Building Blocks
·
Commencement of
Contribution to capital of WACB
·
Finalisation of
Revised WACB Statue
·
Designation of
Headquarters of the WACB
·
Completion of
Contributions to Capital of WACB
·
Designation of
President and Executive Board Members
·
Commencement of
operation of WACB (July)
·
Introduction of ECO
as Virtual currency (July 1)
·
Agreement on
Centralised Framework for Banking Supervision: Preparations for setting up the
West African Financial Services Authority
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