Burkina: CAPES launches the debate on the monetary and political sovereignty of ECOWAS countries

The Center for Analysis of Economic and Social Policies (CAPES), through an international conference chaired by the Prime Minister, Me Apollinaire Joachimson Kyelem de Tambèla, launched, Monday in Ouagadougou, the debate on the monetary and political sovereignty of ECOWAS countries in connection with the new ECO currency, supposed to come into force in 2027, replacing the FCFA.

The general objective of this international public conference is to participate in the reflection on the monetary sovereignty and political independence of ECOWAS countries.

It is placed under the theme: “Political and monetary sovereignty in the ECOWAS area: Should we continue the transition from FCFA to ECO? “.

“Today’s international conference is part of the drive to courageously nourish, whatever the price to pay, the debate in a scientific framework, far from populist arguments, with methods and minutiae. It falls within the framework of the CAPES economic intelligence debates,” declared the executive director of CAPES, Dr Victor Sanou.

According to him, the current context of “our countries” inspired CAPES in the choice of this theme. “Indeed, in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea, after the accession to the affairs of military regimes dubbed by their people, the community body that is ECOWAS, stepped up to impose sanctions on them “, he regretted.

For him, these sanctions mainly pass through the economic and monetary channel.

“Faced with the suffering of the populations and knowing that our States are engaged in a process which should lead them by 2027 to the adoption of the ECO as the new community currency, it seemed good form for CAPES to question whether the dynamic initiated is the right one. Should we still move towards a currency which already sends signals of being the same as the CFA?”, he asked.

Especially since, according to him, this future currency (ECO) was designed with the aim of allowing the different States to continue trade with traditional partners, those known as Western ones.

“But since then, there has been a change in the direction of partnerships for certain countries,” underlined the executive director of CAPES, Dr Victor Sanou.

“With the sub-regional security context, countries like Mali and Burkina Faso have decided to put an end to the “horse rider” relationship by now looking towards partners belonging to the BRICS,” he insisted.

For him, this new orientation is not to everyone’s taste and could be the real motive behind these sanctions. “All this justifies the need for prospective reflection on the relevance of continuing the process towards ECO within the framework of ECOWAS,” he said.

He also affirmed that from the debates that will take place, they will develop summaries in the form of useful strategic orientations, taking into account the context for exploitation.

This international conference was attended by eminent teacher-researchers and economists such as Professor Léon Sampana, Professor Idrissa Ouédraogo, Professor Kako Nubukpo and Professor Mamadou Koulibaly.

Source: Burkina Information Agency